Lathrop Police Services was out on Tuesday morning near the roundabout where a Woodward Elementary School student was struck crossing the street last week — a visual encouragement to slow down when approaching the traffic calming measures.

While the agency didn’t specifically issue a statement about the incident, they did make a post on Facebook the day that the incident occurred with a number of tips from the California Office of Traffic Safety about how to maintain student safety while traveling in school zones.

According to the state agency that promotes and encourages safe driving throughout the Golden State:

*Always be on the lookout for children when traveling around schools, especially during pick-up and drop-off times.

*Avoid distractions while driving like texting, talking on the phone, or eating.

*Preplan your child’s route.

*If your child takes the bus, remind them to line up away from the curb and look both ways when getting on or off.

*Know what to do around buses. Flashing yellow lights indicate the bus is preparing to stop and flashing red lights means stop. California law requires drivers in both directions to stop until the red lights are no longer blinking.

*Test your child on traffic signals and signs. Make sure they always wear their helmet, don’t wear earbuds, and look both ways before crossing the street.

*Don’t rely on listening for cars as many are quiet and hard to hear. Always watch for cars coming in and out of parking spaces.

The Manteca Unified School District said in a statement last week that they remain willing to consult in the Safe Routes to School infrastructure — a funded initiative that local agencies oversee independent of the funding source.

The City of Lathrop — City Hall is located right next to the roundabout where the incident of occurred —said that it will review the findings once all of the information about the accident is compiled and make recommendations as necessary to protect students as they walk to and from school.

The Lathrop City Council has been proactive in promoting pedestrian safety around schools in recent years, and have discussed everything from installing flashing crosswalks near elementary schools to posting signs for older students encouraging them to take their earbuds out when they enter a crosswalk — something that was considered, temporarily, as a municipal code addition that would have allowed Lathrop Police Services to issue citations and fines for those found to be violating the ordinance.

The council opted to take that enforcement mechanism off of the table due to the fact that most of those that would be receiving citations would be minors, and instead asked Lathrop Police Services to take an educational approach.

To contact reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.