The school zones around Weyburn will be a hive of activity, starting today right through until next June, as students return to school. With that in mind, Weyburn’s Police Chief, Jamie Blunden, has some reminders for motorists.  

“There’s three points that come to mind when we talk about back to school,” Blunden told Discover Weyburn. “First and foremost – slow down. You know what? Our kids are back to school; the excitement is there. They’re running across the road. What we can do as drivers is slow down. I know the speed limit there is 30 kilometres or less, so if we could do the ‘or less’, it would probably be beneficial to the kids on the way to school, especially those first couple weeks of school.” 

The school zones in Weyburn are around all four of the city’s schools: Legacy Park Elementary School, Assiniboia Park Elementary School, St. Mike’s School and Weyburn Comprehensive School. As Blunden pointed out, the speed limit in each of the zones is 30 km/h, and it is in effect from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. 

“The second part that I want to make sure that everybody is aware of is – don't drive distracted. Let’s pay attention a little bit here,” Blunden continued. “No phones, keep the phone down, no texting, have your music and everything that you’re playing with if you’re having coffee... We get into those school zones, let’s pay attention to what we’re doing. It doesn’t take a second for a student to run out between parked cars. Our reaction time is a lot less when we’re distracted.” 

Distracted driving can carry some hefty penalties, with tickets starting at $580. Distracted driving is also the second leading cause of collisions that cause injuries or death in Saskatchewan.  

“The last part that I wanted to talk about was those pedestrian crosswalks,” Blunden said. “We have some with flashing lights, we also have some areas that aren’t flashing lights. And then on top of that, the parking zone within a crosswalk is three meters – so, you can’t park within three meters, roughly, give or take, 12 to 15 feet. And if you can stay away from that at least, it’ll give our students the opportunity to cross at those crosswalks without being hidden by the cars that are parked close to them. 

“Pay attention, slow down, and let’s do some practical driving with some due diligence.” 

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