School zone speed limits

Re: Paul Hergott's legal column on school zone speed limits

I agree with the writer's stance that 30 km/h as a blanket speed limit in school zones might not always be the solution. As he writes, too fast, too slow in some circumstances.

In my travels, I've seen other jurisdictions handling this differently.

Some signs read "30 km/h when children are present" and others time the speed zone 7:30-9 a.m. and 2:30-3:30 p.m.

I don't expect drivers there are mowing down children with any more frequency than here, where the blanket expanded hours on the signs now read 7:30 a.m.-5 p.m.

Other than the twice daily soccer mom/SUV mash up that takes up about half an hour in the morning and again at 2:30, with up to 50 vehicles jockeying for position, there are generally a good eight hours when there isn't a kid or a soccer mom in sight, just several hundred metres of empty street.

This one size fits all, all the time, just in case or all day, every day signing in use here is a poor choice.

Alan Sanderson