Some 124,000 students on Tuesday walked, bused or were driven to school for the first day of the new public school year, making Edmonton’s roads some of the busiest they’ve been in two months. “I didn’t drive because the first day is a lot of traffic,” said one Belmead School parent that morning at dropoff. “It’s a busy area.” Grade 6 Belmead student Piper Montgomery said she already missed the days of sleeping in, but was otherwise excited to be reunited with her friends and back in her role of crossing guard. “You have to look both ways and you have to put your (stop) sign up and you have to make sure no cars are coming. When a school bus is coming, you have to let them go,” she explained. “It (was) fun last year, so it’s probably gonna be fun this year.” Staff and police were also stationed outside Belmead School, greeting students and issuing a reminder about school zone rules. “If your commute route takes you through a school area, be prepared to lose a few minutes on your commute,” Edmonton Police Service Sgt. Kerry Bates advised. “Leave early, be patient, give yourself the time to be patient, and things should work out OK.” He also said parents should be modelling good behaviour for their kids, like practicing situational awareness and respecting public rules and procedures. “Set a good example for them so they have the smarts to know what to do and do it properly.” With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Evan Kenny
