The first day back to class for thousands of Edmonton students comes with a reminder for drivers to pay extra attention and be aware that 30 km/h school zones are back in effect.
Drivers must slow down to 30 km/h between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. on school days where school zone signs are posted.
Some year-round students went back to school weeks ago, but the vast majority return Thursday. Edmonton police are reminding drivers to pay attention because back to school means more vehicles and pedestrians to watch out for in the morning.
READ MORE: Edmonton students calling on drivers to slow down in school zones
“Motorists, cyclists and pedestrians all need to be attentive, especially around schools,” EPS traffic safety coordinator Sgt. Kerry Bates said. “City streets become increasingly congested at this time of year.
“It’s imperative that we’re all on top of our games as we ease back into our normal routines of dropping off and picking up our children from school.”
WATCH: A new school opened in rapidly-expanding southwest Edmonton on Thursday. The principal of St. John XXIII Catholic Elementary/Junior High School chatted with Erin Chalmers about the importance of area drivers paying attention to new students, and how the badly-needed school is already full.
Several new schools opened Thursday, including St. John XXIII Catholic Elementary/Junior High School — the first school to be built in southwest Edmonton’s rapidly-expanding Windermere area.
“One of our most important stakeholders is the parents – the people who are dropping off and picking up their children at St. John,” principal Michael Kovacs said.
With it being the first school in the neighbourhood, drivers might not be used to watching for school zone signs.
“We want to set a positive tone from day one here, and we want everyone to follow the rules of the road to ensure our children are safe – both motorists and students.”
Since school zones were re-introduced to Edmonton in 2014, police say they’ve issued more than 106,000 speeding tickets in them. Most of those tickets — 90 per cent — came from photo radar, with the remaining 10 per cent were handed out by police officers.
To make drivers more aware of the school zones, police are re-launching its “Be a Textbook Driver” campaign, featuring bus signs, billboards and TV commercials on safety.
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