MOOSE JAW - Motorists had the summer to become familiar with the new speed limit in school zones, and with students now back in class, the police are clamping down on inattentive drivers.
One of the first incidents of officers capturing lead-footed drivers through school zones occurred on Sept. 9, after they stopped a vehicle travelling 71 kilometres per hour. They fined the driver $578 and impounded the vehicle for 30 days for driving over double the speed limit.
Furthermore, police discovered that the driver had more than the legal limit of THC in his system and issued a 60-day licence suspension.
The issue of the new speed limit arose during the Board of Police Commissioners’ September meeting, with the board asking senior police leadership whether they planned to acquire more radar units for school zones to enforce the new speeds.
Commissioners also asked the Moose Jaw Police Service (MJPS) whether it would patrol such areas more frequently and remind parents to stop parking in no-stopping zones.
Senior police executives replied that officers have been patrolling those areas regularly since school began on Sept. 3 and reminding parents to move along. However, “changing behaviours takes a bit of time” since residents have been familiar with driving 40 km/h for years.
The police agency will have data about school zone-related offenders in October that it can share then. Meanwhile, the MJPS will use social media to remind residents not to stop in areas near schools with no-stopping signs, while it will work with the city — as it does annually — on similar communication campaigns.
Deputy Chief Rick Johns pointed out that some schools were built in high-traffic areas, so it’s always a challenge to enforce no-parking zones. However, Sgt. Ryan Lawrence, the community safety liaison, has done well in building relationships with school divisions and educating parents about no-stopping zones through those organizations.
Commissioners also asked senior executives about the radar speed trailer on Caribou Street West near William Grayson School — it will move to other areas — and whether they would receive that data, as well as SGI since the Crown corporation wants to know where the speeding problems are.
Chief Rick Bourassa replied that he and city manager Maryse Carmichael met with the Crown corporation a while ago and had “a couple of really good meetings” to discuss the SGI-funded trailers. Those units are designed to warn motorists while also covertly gathering data, which is why the police service placed the machine in an area that has problems.
As to whether SGI will provide more automated speed enforcement (ASE) cameras, the data the MJPS is gathering with the trailer will help the Crown corporation determine whether to provide more technology, he continued. With that data, city hall can then apply to a provincial body to acquire more ASE cameras.
“It took a while for the trailer to come. Apparently, there is still a bit of a supply chain issue, but it came to us in the spring and we have been running it pretty regularly and gathering data in those places,” Bourassa added.
“You will hear from us about those data when we have enough gathered.”
