School zone speed limits are back in place this week (from 1 February) with Police and Access Canberra inspectors out patrolling school zones to enforce safe driving.
Acting Deputy Director-General of Transport Canberra and Business Services, Ben McHugh said speed limits in school zones were in place to ensure the safety of children by allowing motorists extra time to stop in an unexpected situation.
“School environments can become congested during the peak periods, which potentially increases the safety risk to children as they are smaller and less visible to drivers,” Mr McHugh said.
“Speeding at five kilometres an hour above the speed limit increases both the likelihood of a crash occurring, and the severity of driver and pedestrian injuries in a crash,” he said.
“Pedestrians have been shown to have a 90 per cent chance of survival when struck by a car travelling at 30 km/h or below, but less than 50 per cent chance of surviving an impact at 45 km/h.”
Mr McHugh said Access Canberra inspectors were patrolling school zones to enforce safe driving and parking behaviours.
Police Officer in Charge of Road Policing, Detective Inspector Marcus Boorman said the police would be enforcing full penalties for people who chose to speed in school zones, an act which he said could have life-altering consequences.
“Exceeding the speed limit in school zones puts these young people at risk,” Detective Inspector Boorman said.
“It’s simple: slow down and stick to the speed limit to ensure their safety,” he said.
Detective Inspector Boorman said the number of fines issued in school zones by police last year fell by almost half to 297 and he wanted to see that trend continue into 2021.
He said speeding in a school zone would earn people one demerit point and a fine of $321 if they exceeded the limit by 15km/h or less; three demerits and a $477 fine for 15km/h to 30km/h; four demerits and a $799 fine for 30km/h to 45km/h; and six demerits and a $2,136 fine for travelling more than 45km/h above the limit.
