With Saskatchewan Government Insurance’s (SGI) traffic spotlight in September focusing on school zone safety, dozens of Moose Jaw motorists learned a tough lesson about speeding through those areas that month.
Throughout September, the automated speed enforcement (ASE) cameras near École Palliser Heights School and William Grayson School captured 51 motorists driving above 40 kilometres per hour, with the highest speed recorded at 58 km/h, SGI data shows. This number of people caught represents 0.18 per cent of all motorists who drove through those zones that month.
In comparison, 1,516 motorists were nabbed speeding through school zones in Regina that month, while 73 motorists were caught speeding in Saskatoon. Both cities have speed limits of 30 km/h in those areas; the highest speeds recorded were 79 km/h and 53 km/h, respectively.
Overall, police across Saskatchewan issued 673 tickets to motorists speeding through school zones in September, compared to 1,424 tickets issued in September 2019, according to SGI. While the numbers have dropped, the Crown corporation believes that’s still too many motorists speeding through school zones.
“Getting a school zone speeding ticket is even worse than getting sent to the principal’s office (20 km/h over the speed limit = a $310 ticket, plus three demerits), but the most important reason drivers need to slow down in school zones is to #KeepKidsSafe,” a news release said.
While speeding was the most prevalent traffic infraction in school zones, a handful of drivers were ticketed for other offences, including:
- five tickets to drivers for failing to yield to a pedestrian at an intersection or crosswalk (a $230 ticket, plus three demerits); and
- one ticket for failing to stop five metres from a school bus when safety lights were in operation ($360 ticket, four demerits).
Other results reported by police during September include:
- 451 impaired driving offences, including 370 Criminal Code charges;
- 660 distracted driving offences, including 548 tickets related to cellphone use while driving;
- 414 tickets related to seatbelts, car seats or booster seats; and
- 6,977 speeding or aggressive driving tickets (in addition to the school zone speeding tickets noted above).
Other data
SGI’s website also provided data about the number of motorists caught speeding through Moose Jaw school zones in previous months. That data — number of violations, percentage of vehicles in violation, and highest speed recorded — shows:
- August: 108 / 0.35 per cent / 61 km/h
- July: 192 / 0.36 per cent / 83 km/h
- June: 105 / 0.24 per cent / 67 km/h
- May: 205 / 0.53 per cent / 85 km/h
- April: 71 / 0.28 per cent / 73 km/h
- March: 57 / 0.19 per cent / 65 km/h
- February: 37 / 0.22 per cent / 76 km/h
- January: 41 / 0.23 per cent / 56 km/h
In 2019, there were 3,373 motorists nabbed for speeding in school zones, which represented 8.19 per cent of all vehicles that passed through those areas. The average high speed was 67 km/h, while the highest was 76 km/h.
SGI reminds motorists to avoid speeding tickets by slowing down in school zones and ignoring distractions such as cellphones.
