Prince George, B.C.- Tomorrow marks the first day back to school for children enrolled with School District 57. That means, the school zone speed limits will be back in effect.

According to the  BCAA Traffic Safety Foundation,  research shows that most child pedestrian related injuries occur in September and October, followed by May and June, and children aged 5 to 14 years are at the greatest risk for pedestrian-related fatalities.

 

The Foundation also notes, the most frequently reported child pedestrian action that results in injury or death is crossing at an intersection followed by running onto the road.

 

While most child pedestrian injuries and deaths occur in urban areas, when a pedestrian is hit on a rural road, the result is more likely to be fatal because of higher vehicle speeds.

“Talking or texting on cell phones is also a safety risk for pedestrians,” says Linda Lawlor, School Safety Patrol Program Coordinator for the Foundation. 

 

Preliminary research with 10 and 11 year olds provides strong evidence that talking on a cell phone while crossing a street increases a child's risk of being struck by a vehicle by up to one third. This distraction, and its negative impact on a child's crossing decisions, has lead researchers to speculate on the risks of using other devices, such as mp3 players or texting.

 

The biggest risk to children in school zones is still those parents who continue to make U-turns, stop in no-stopping zones, back up into crosswalks, roll through stop signs, ignore the school safety patrollers, let their children out from the driver’s side and into oncoming traffic and speed.

 

Lawlor suggests that parents and caregivers try healthier ways of getting to and from school, such as walking or cycling. “Serious or fatal injury is preventable, if parents and drivers take an active role in keeping all kids safe. The more cars we can remove from the roadways around schools, the safer our kids will be.”

 

Most school zone speed limits are 30 km/h and are in effect weekdays between 8 AM and 5 PM.

 

 

31 - 50 km/h        $196       3

51 - 70 km/h        $253       3

71 - 90 km/h        $368       3

Over 90 km/h       $483       3

 

 

• The posted speed limit in school zones is 30 km/h from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. when students are in class.
• The posted speed limit in playground zones is 30 km/h from dawn to dusk, every day of the year.
• Drivers must watch for children walking on medians, roadways, and curbs, and be cautious when approaching intersections.
• Until children are about eight years of age, it is difficult for them to assess whether a vehicle is moving or not.
• When children see an approaching car, they first notice the colour - not how fast the vehicle is traveling.
• Children assume cars stop instantly, and do not have the ability to estimate whether there is enough time to cross the road without being struck.
• A child’s field of vision is one-third narrower than an adult’s.
• Children have difficulty determining where sounds are coming from.
• Most pedestrian traffic injuries happen to five- to nine-year-olds in mid-block crossings, and to 10- to 14-year-olds at intersections.
• It takes a vehicle 13 metres to come to a complete stop when driving 30 km/h, but 27 metres - more than double that distance - when driving