To launch its September Traffic Safety Spotlight, SGI is taking motorists to school by focusing on math and physics.
Sept. 4 is the first day of school, and police will be focusing on school zone speeds throughout the month.
SGI’s math lesson is simple: school zones plus speeding equals an expensive ticket.
A driver caught going more than 20 kilometres per hour faster than the posted speed limit in a school zone will receive a $310 ticket. This includes the base fine, excess km/h charge and the victims of crime surcharge.
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The insurance agency’s physics lesson focuses on vehicles travelling 50 km/h, the common regular city speed limit. SGI references a study that found a vehicle striking a pedestrian at 50km/h resulted in a fatality 55 per cent of the time.
“Many of the pedestrians in school zones are children who are smaller, more vulnerable and don’t always follow the traffic rules,” said Penny McCune, COO of the SGI Auto Fund.
Additionally, SGI says it is harder to avoid collisions at higher speeds and there is a recued reaction time for the driver if a child unexpectedly enters the road.
In 2017, there were 20 collisions in school zones, resulting in two pedestrian injuries.
More than 18,000 convictions for speeding in school zones were recorded, plus 71 convictions for disobeying school bus signals.
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