As a new school year begins Tuesday morning, there will be more pedestrians and traffic around schools.
This year there are some changes for Regina drivers with the new 30 kilometres per hour school zones now in effect.
Elizabeth Popowich with the Regina Police Service said officers always put an extra emphasis on school zones when school resumes after the summer break, but this year police will be extra vigilant with the new speed limits in place.
“We will have extra officers, especially in those first few weeks, paying attention to school zones because we want people to get into that habit of safely moving through school zones and playground zones and looking out for that precious resource – our kids,” stated Popowich.
Replacing the old 40 km/h signage with the new speed limit signs has been one of the many projects city crews have been working to accomplish throughout the summer.
Some neighborhoods in Regina have had the new signs around a little longer than others. Popowich feels this has given drivers an education period over the past few weeks, so there will be no leeway when it comes to avoiding tickets.
She’s also encouraging parents to chat with their kids about safety when walking to school and to review safety planning before heading to school.
“Talk about safely crossing the street, practice that with the little ones. Talk about not emerging from between parked cars because those little people are hard to see if they suddenly pop out between parked vehicles.”
Another suggestion Popowich has for parents is to suggest having their kids walk in groups to school.
Motorists will have to pay extra attention as some younger kids will be hard to see among vehicles and increased traffic volumes on roads.
