Parking is restricted in school zones to ensure children can access those areas safely, while signs remind motorists about these prohibitions, but it appears some parents just can’t follow the rules.
The issue of illegal parking in school zones came to city council during its Feb. 14 regular meeting, while the Board of Police Commissioners dealt with this problem during their March 10 meeting.
“School zone parking (is) an ongoing issue, not only here but in other places. School zone parking prohibitions are there to protect children (and) they’re very often ignored. And they can be challenging to enforce,” Police Chief Rick Bourassa said.
“It’s really important that people obey those signs and don’t park there because children can run out between cars, and things can happen.”
Staff Sgt. Taylor Elder, with the Moose Jaw Police Service’s community programs and services unit, discussed the differences between stopping and parking in prohibited zones. He noted that if motorists stop in a no-parking zone to load or unload their children, then — according to lawyers — this is not an infraction police can enforce.
The way to address this problem is by adding more signs that prohibit stopping, he continued. This is an issue that city hall’s public works, infrastructure, and environment advisory committee could handle.
“If we don’t want people stopping there, we need clear signage that would help people understand what we need,” Elder said.
Elder hoped that the new joint-use school on South Hill might address the issue of motorists parking in prohibited areas. He pointed out that Moose Jaw’s schools were built when children walked to school, whereas today, most children either take the bus or are driven. This has increased traffic in school zones, while the roads cannot accommodate the volume.
Officers are working with safety patrollers to ensure students remain safe, while the police service has two school liaison officers who monitor school zones daily, Elder added. He has also spoken with both education directors to determine if they have concerns at certain schools.
Commissioner Doug Blanc noted that he brought up this issue during the Feb. 14 council meeting. He reiterated that he dropped off his grandchildren at École Palliser Heights School one time and thought the parking problems there were “brutal.”
“I’m thinking, ‘Wow, (motorists are) blocking driveways, in front of fire hydrants, and everything,’” he said. “I don’t think the schools have the problem; they don’t care because it’s not interfering with them. It’s the residents that it interferes.”
Residents who live near Saskatchewan Polytechnic have also reached out with concerns, indicating some students park in front of fire hydrants all day, Blanc added. It also doesn’t help, though, when city graders push snow into parking lanes, which forces students into no parking zones.
The police service has made traffic commissionaires aware of this issue and encouraged them to monitor the situation, said Elder. The problem, however, is police rarely catch those motorists because they have moved by the time officers drive by.
Commissioner Dawn Luhning, the board chair, asked Elder whether he thought enhanced signs would make a difference in deterring people from parking or stopping in school zones. She pointed out that motorists can’t even follow the signs at Ninth Avenue Northwest and Caribou Street West.
“I don’t think signs will (actually help),” said Elder, noting he and a colleague were at Westmount School and motorists parked in prohibited zones even with officers nearby. When told to move, the drivers said they were “just” dropping off their kids.
The next Board of Police Commissioners meeting is Thursday, April 14.
