A CBS News review found growing concerns about dangerous driving near schools in the United States.
All 50 states have programs to make school routes safer and more than 17,000 schools have received government money for safety upgrades, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports – but, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, one in three public school officials still say traffic near their buildings "poses a threat" to students.
For Tom Didone, a former police captain, driving safety is personal. Didone was the police investigator assigned to respond to every deadly car crash in Montgomery County, Maryland.
In 2008, a teen driver with a car full of young friends lost control on a winding road in the county.
Didone responded to the call. One of the passengers in the car was Didone's 15-year-old son, Ryan.
"My everyday routine as the traffic safety advocate took over until I saw the blood in the backseat," said Didone.
Ryan died at the hospital hours later, changing Didone's life forever.
School zone safety
The deadly crash has transformed Didone into a vocal and effective advocate for driver safety, traveling to communities across the country.
He warns of the safety concerns and vulnerability during the back-to-school period.
"Over the summer, people develop bad habits without the congestion around schools. People are driving faster. They're distracted. Then all of a sudden school zones hit. You have more cars on the road. You have kids that could be crossing the street and being very unpredictable," Didone said.
In Spotsylvania County, Virginia, officials are trying to crack down on school zone speeding this year.
"We conducted a speed zone study in this exact area, we noticed that in a week we had about 10,000 drivers speeding in this speed zone," said Jeremy Siefker, the director of school safety and risk management for Spotsylvania County Public Schools.
With new cameras, they plan to issue tickets to drivers going more than 10 miles above the speed limit.
Meanwhile, Didone said everyone can play a part in keeping school zones safe. Parents need to talk to their new young drivers and everyone needs to concentrate, avoid distractions, and slow down when they're driving by school zones.
He hopes his son is proud of his work.
"If he looked down and saw this, that he knew that his life meant something and that I valued it, and I tried to do the best I could with it," he said.
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