The first harbinger of autumn’s arrival is upon us, with public school students preparing to return to their classrooms for the 2024-25 school year.

Over the next two weeks, classes will begin throughout the area — in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties, in public and private, parochial and charter schools.

That means focusing on safe travels. Everyone — adults as well as students — is a part of ensuring young people arrive at school in the morning and return home in the evening.

While drivers always should proceed with caution, that warning becomes imperative with students traveling to and from school.

There will be more pedestrians out there, especially near schools and in densely populated areas. But even in rural school districts, some students walk to classes, sometimes on roads that don’t have sidewalks.

Just as drivers have to be mindful of the foot traffic, students can help keep themselves safe by being mindful of the cars whizzing past them only a few feet away.

In a few weeks, when autumn firmly takes hold here in Western Pennsylvania, the trip to school will often take place in morning twilight. For students, that should mean wearing high-visibility clothing. For adults, it should mean keeping a keen eye out for those who don’t.

And it’s not just students walking along the roads. It’s the students driving on the roads.

Each fall, teenagers with their brand new licenses are driving to school for the first time. That makes it necessary that all drivers — and drivers of all experience levels — pay attention to the standard warning and drive defensively.

The same goes for basic driving safety recommendations such as following speed limits, and traffic signals and signs.

School buses also will be returning to the roads, and drivers need to be aware of the buses’ signal lights, signs and extension arms, and of the laws governing approaching school buses that are picking up and dropping off students.

PennDOT has a back-to-school safety web page that includes pedestrian safety tips, school bus loading and unloading rules, and driver awareness recommendations. In other words, recommendations everyone can use.

Because everyone has a role to play in making sure students get to and from school safely.

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