Be careful out there.

Forgive us if it sounds like we are repeating ourselves, as it must seem we do around his time every year when school gets out and the island’s roads are filled with more drivers, some young, and a greater assortment of walkers, bicyclists and visitors to our fair island.

Recent items in the blotter of the Bainbridge Island Police Department, however, prompt us once again to beg for greater care and caution for those getting behind the wheel.

The morning of Tuesday, May 26, a 43-year-old Bainbridge man pedaling south on Madison Avenue was smacked by a driver in a Dodge Caravan as the bicyclist passed the Bainbridge Public Library.

The driver told police he did not see the bicyclist when he was making his turn.

And the week before, a 47-year-old Bainbridge woman was knocked off her bike and taken to the hospital after a driver in a Buick made a turn in the Island Village Shopping Center without looking and collided with the bicyclist.

Both accidents could have had a much more tragic ending, but both incidents appear to have been completely avoidable had the drivers in both cases taken the proper care and looked for others on the road.

Though it’s often tempting for us to blame the bad drivers in our midst as those just passing through our community from somewhere else, the Bainbridge blotter shows us time and again that our neighbors, friends and family can also be road hazards — as well as potential victims.

Rushed for time, flushed with drink, or the menace of the multi-taskers (cellphone talkers and texters, that’s you), many of the reasons that make usually good drivers drive badly are easily avoided.

So, please.

Relax. Put the phone down. Talk later, text later. Watch where you’re going, share the road.

What’s the rush?