Tuesday, September 3, 2019 at 8:07 am marks the opening of the
elementary school nearest to where I live. Time to think about school
zones and school bus safety for another year. It will be easy to obey
the flashing red lights on the school bus, but I might
have grown accustomed to not slowing down for the school zone after a
summer of travel at 60 km/h instead of 30 km/h.
I am a creature of habit. One year the school zone in front of my house
was changed from an advisory to a regulatory one when a 30 tab was
applied to the sign. I honestly have no idea whether I saw the change
the day it was made or some time after. So, I know
that I have to pay particular attention until I am used to the lower
speed required of me again.
ICBC media relations supplied a broadcast e-mail reminder a couple of
days ago. It tells me that “Every year, 380 children are injured in
crashes while walking or cycling and five are killed throughout the
province.”
It is definitely a sobering thought and I was thinking about that more
than a week ago when I e-mailed media relations to ask for statistics
regarding collisions in school zones. What was supplied in the broadcast
is a statistic that very likely contains incidents
that have no connection to school related trips at all.
What is the extent of the problem that actually occurs in relation to
school zones or travel to and from school that takes place outside the
zones but are still part of a trip to school? I don’t know. Despite the
request and a follow up e-mail last Friday,
I am still waiting for a response.
Granted, it is difficult to capture incidents that are part of a school
trip but occur outside a school zone. The MV6020 collision reporting
form does provide for a description of school / playground to identify
land usage in the collision area, but collisions
have not been reportable to police for a long time now.
I trust that ICBC is collecting some accurate data when an insurance
claim is made. The corporation does release an overview on the
statistics page of their web site, but it is not nearly as detailed as
what was shared in the past.
I suppose that it goes without saying that all road users need to
exercise care in school zones. However, if we don’t know about the scope
of the problem, how do we fix it if there is one?
If you are interested, I have written a number of articles on school
zones and school buses in the past. There is also an excellent current
article by Steve Wallace of Wallace Driving School.
I’ll finish up by providing ICBC’s school zone tips for drivers:
- If you drop off your child in a school zone, allow them to exit the car on the side closest to the sidewalk. Never allow a child to cross mid-block.
- If a vehicle’s stopped in front of you or in the lane next to you, they may be yielding to a pedestrian, so proceed with caution and be prepared to stop.
- Watch for school buses and when their lights are flashing, vehicles approaching from both directions must stop.
- Before getting into your vehicle, walk around it to make sure no small children are hidden from your view. Always look for pedestrians when you’re backing up.
- In residential areas, a hockey net or ball can mean that kids are playing nearby. Watch for children as they could dash into the street at any moment.
Remember that every school day, unless otherwise posted, a 30
km/h speed limit is in effect in school zones from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. In
playground zones, a 30 km/h speed limit is in effect every day from dawn
to dusk.
There is also a Tip Sheet to download that assists parents in developing
their child’s road safety smarts to make that trip back and forth to
school a bit safer.
Story URL: https://www.drivesmartbc.ca/schools-and-playgrounds/back-school-2019
Tip Sheet URL:
https://www.icbc.com/road-safety/teaching/Documents/teach-your-child-to-be-a-safe-pedestrian.pdf
—
Constable Tim Schewe (Retired)
DriveSmartBC: Where better than average road users satisfy their curiosity.