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Behind-the-Wheel

School-zone lessons

Seven years ago, I wrote about a safe trip to school, commenting on my experience that a significant part of the safety problem was caused by teachers and parents.

Their driving behaviour as they showed up to work or dropped off their children sometimes left a lot to be desired.

Did they not realize that they were creating their own problem?

At that time, the only solution that I had to offer was the walking school bus — where parents take turns walking the neighbourhood children to school.

Everyone benefits from the exercise, the children are safer and traffic congestion at the school is reduced.

We know that there's a problem, but how do we deal with it?

The City of Toronto is trying an Active and Safe Routes to School pilot project as a part of their Vision Zero Road Safety Plan.

This will see areas around schools being designated as Community Safety Zones.

These zones will have painted crosswalks, active speed reader signs. increased enforcement and higher penalties.

Of the four, the only one that I know for sure results in a measurable effect is the speed reader sign. It's always there and working.

Do the police have the resources to maintain an enforcement level necessary to result in a lasting level of compliance?

Would we accept automated enforcement in school zones?

The current political climate in B.C. seems to indicate that it is possible, but as yet nothing has been implemented.

Vienna, Austria, Bolzano, Italy and Haddington, Scotland have taken a different approach.

They have decided to exclude motor vehicle traffic around primary schools.

Vienna's closure is at the start of the school day, with Bolzano and Haddington at the beginning, lunch hour and end of the day.

These are pilot projects for Vienna and Haddington, but Bolzano has had this program in place for 21 years. Bolzano found that traffic jams are reduced and safety has increased, reducing the collision rate by half, resulting in about 45 per cent of students walking to school.

Traffic calming measures lie somewhere in between. Here are some examples from the Netherlands.

The use of signs, coloured pavement, marked crosswalks and chicanes are markedly different from what is found here in B.C.

Story URL: https://www.drivesmartbc.ca/schools-and-playgrounds/different-approach-school-zone-safety

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.

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About the Author

Tim Schewe is a retired constable with many years of traffic law enforcement experience. He has been writing his column for most of the 20 years of his service in the RCMP.

The column was 'The Beat Goes On' in Fort St. John, 'Traffic Tips' in the South Okanagan and now 'Behind the Wheel' on Vancouver Island and here on Castanet.net.

Schewe retired from the force in January of 2006, but the column has become a habit, and continues.

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The views expressed are strictly those of the author and not necessarily those of Castanet. Castanet does not warrant the contents.

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