WINNIPEG — When school starts, motorists should adjust their driving habits in school zones — but Canadian Automobile Association staff worry that’s not happening.
CAA staff and Winnipeg police officers observed motorists texting, eating, doing their makeup and speeding past schools where young children were trying to cross the street to get to school on Wednesday morning.
“We’re extremely disturbed by what we saw,” said Mike Mager of the CAA.
For the third year, CAA held its school zone assessment at three different Winnipeg locations.
In just an hour and half, they noted 1,679 motorists were being unsafe, including 146 motorists seen eating, putting on makeup or texting.
In one case, a motorist hardly looked up while driving, Mager said.
“He proceeded towards a pedestrian corridor and he did not look up from his hand the entire half the block we were watching and monitoring him,” said Mager.
At one school, a motorist was ticketed going 77 kilometres an hour. While 50 kilometres an hour is the maximum speed through school zones, come Monday, new provincial legislation will allow cities and municipalities to lower the speed limit to 30.
“When it happens, it’s going to be great for the students and for the schools,” said Winnipeg police Staff Sgt. Rob Riffel. “It’s really going to help us out.”
CAA has been pushing for lower speed limits in school zones for years.
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“Many provinces have that in place and it’s proven, lower speed reduces the risk, reduces the injury that can occur, and it’s something that can’t happen soon enough,” said Mager.
The biggest infraction saw 678 motorists failing to stop at crosswalks or stop signs, including five school buses.
Dozens of children were seen on bikes not wearing helmets.
CAA’s goal was not to ticket or fine motorists, but to make motorists aware of how dangerous their behaviour can be.
“You just have to pay attention,” said Riffel. “Slow your speed down and protect our little ones.”
Last year, about 1,000 motorists were recorded for risky behaviour, but CAA said you can’t compare that to this year’s figure because it was at different schools and there were fewer people monitoring motorists.
The CAA plans to continue to do the safety blitzes every year until they see a major improvement.
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