Two months after 30 km/h speed limit School Zones started, EPS to start giving tickets

Two months have passed since school zones were introduced around Edmonton elementary schools, with speed limits of 30 kilometres an hour – but officials say many drivers are not getting the message, so the grace period is over and drivers who speed in those areas will start getting tickets, instead of warnings.

Since school started in September, police have monitored a total of 38,198 vehicles – and found about 56 percent were travelling at or below the speed limit, leaving 44 percent who didn’t.

Also since September EPS and the City of Edmonton Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) has issued 5,480 warnings to drivers who exceeded those limits.

Those numbers have officials concerned.

“We’re still not comfortable with the compliance rate,” Gerry Shimko with the Office of Traffic Safety said.

The City reported ten schools where the poorest compliance numbers had been recorded:

As a result, starting in November, officials promise to enforce the speed limit.

“As we move forward into November, we’ll be working with the [Edmonton] Police Service to ramp up our efforts,” Shimko said.

The change comes as City Council passes a bylaw for the lowered speed limit, making the change permanent.

“So we still have a speeding problem in our city, and it’s unfortunate that it’s near where our kids go to school,” Mayor Don Iveson said.

Tickets for speeding infractions start at $57, and go up depending on the speed the vehicle was moving at.

With files from Bill Fortier