September brings a familiar change to Spanish roads.
The summer holidays end, schools reopen and the morning and afternoon school run returns.
For parents, it may be a routine they know extremely well. For everyone else using the road, however, it can feel as though the entire traffic system has suddenly changed.
And, in a sense, it has.
The school run is not simply a few extra cars arriving outside a school. It changes when people travel, where they travel and how much pressure they are under.
That affects every driver.
The road becomes busier before and after school
The most obvious change is the number of vehicles around schools.
But the effect extends much further.
A parent dropping children at school may then continue to work. Another may have changed their working hours to accommodate the school day. Someone else may be travelling in the opposite direction because they have changed their usual route to avoid the congestion.
The result is that the impact of the school run can spread well beyond the immediate school entrance.
A road that was relatively quiet at 8.00am during August can suddenly become busy.
A junction that normally flows smoothly can develop queues.
A familiar route can take considerably longer.
For drivers who are not involved in the school run themselves, this can be frustrating.
It is also something worth anticipating.
Time pressure changes driving
Parents are not the only people affected by the clock.
The driver behind them may be trying to reach work.
The delivery driver approaching from the other direction may be working to a schedule.
The bus may be trying to maintain its timetable.
Everyone can feel the pressure created by a few minutes of delay.
That is precisely why September is a good time to rethink the daily commute.
If the roads are going to be busier, allow more time.
If a journey normally takes twenty minutes, do not build your entire morning around arriving after nineteen minutes.
A little extra time can remove a considerable amount of pressure.
And pressure is rarely a good companion behind the wheel.
Expect the unexpected
The school environment creates movement that drivers may not normally encounter.
A car may stop.
A child may cross.
A parent may change direction.
A school bus may pull away.
A pedestrian may appear from behind a parked vehicle.
None of these things is necessarily unusual around a school.
The mistake is assuming that because something has not happened on your previous journey, it will not happen on the next one.
Good driving is partly about anticipation.
If you know an area is likely to contain children, parents and school traffic, you can begin looking for potential problems before they develop.
It is not only the school entrance
One of the easiest mistakes is to think of school safety as something that happens immediately outside the school gates.
Children walk.
They cycle.
They are dropped off further away.
They cross roads.
Parents park and continue on foot.
School buses stop at designated locations.
The traffic environment around a school therefore extends beyond the gates themselves.
Drivers should remain particularly alert wherever children are likely to be travelling.
Give other drivers room to make mistakes
The return to school also means more drivers who are dealing with exactly the same pressure.
A parent may hesitate because they are looking for somewhere safe and authorised to stop.
Another driver may be unfamiliar with the road.
Someone may realise at the last moment that they have missed a turning.
These situations can be irritating.
But the safest response is usually to create space rather than close it.
If somebody makes an unexpected manoeuvre, having already left a sensible gap gives you more options.
Think about the person, not just the vehicle
It is easy to see a line of cars and think only about traffic.
But every vehicle contains somebody trying to get somewhere.
The driver may be taking children to school before going to work.
They may be returning home after dropping them off.
They may be a teacher.
They may be a delivery driver trying to get through an increasingly busy area.
Understanding this does not mean excusing dangerous behaviour.
It means recognising that patience is often more useful than frustration.
The school run is now part of your commute
For several weeks during the summer, many drivers have become accustomed to a different road environment.
That is now changing.
The school run is back.
The morning commute is busier.
The afternoon roads are busier.
Children are once again a much more visible presence around streets and junctions.
The safest response is not to hope that everybody else will adapt.
It is to adapt yourself.
Leave earlier.
Expect delays.
Watch more carefully.
Reduce speed where circumstances require it.
And give other road users the time and space they need.
Because when the school year begins, the roads belong to everyone.
The school run is simply another part of the daily traffic that we all need to learn to share.
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