Many people feel it’s a struggle to wake up in the morning, put themselves together, and make it to work on time. This results in overlooking the importance of road safety, especially in school zones just to make it to work a minute or two earlier. It’s only when an accident has happened that those couple of minutes don’t mean anything anymore.
After many concerns from parents about their children’s safety, Clarington lowered the school zone speed limit from 50 km/h to 30 km/h, which took effect at the beginning of this school year.
According to a CAA poll in Canada from 2019, nearly a quarter of driver’s report witnessing a near miss or collision in a school zone, more than half of which involved a child.
With Clarington’s change of the school zone speed limit, this will result in drivers becoming more cautious and aware of their surroundings, slowing down and lowering the risk of tragedies when there shouldn’t be any.
According to the Canadian Underwriter, a source of news and insights for the insurance industry in Canada, research shows collisions with pedestrians are rare on roads with speed limits of 40 km/h or lower. Drivers can stop more effectively at a lower speed than they can at higher ones.
Parents need to be able to send their children off to school without worrying about carless drivers who are trying to rush to their destination. While it’s impossible for a parent to not worry about their children, many get to worry a little bit less due to this needed change.
While many people are happy about this new addition, others have reacted negatively, calling it a cash grab and expressing frustration over the inconvenience of having to slow down and drive 30 km/h.
It is not an inconvenience, it is a crucial factor for the safety of pedestrians and not only that but the safety of drivers. Slowing down will allow drivers to react quickly and more calmly. It is those few added seconds driving at the lowered speed that can prevent accidents and save lives.
With this improvement in our community, the city council will continue to explore new road safety measures.
It is up to the drivers of Clarington to slow down and protect each other. At the end of the day this will only become an effective change if drivers follow the rules of the road and respect the new school zone speed limit.
On the way to our destinations, we need to take a moment and think about the outcome of our choices. Are those few minutes worth risking a tragedy by disregarding Clarington’s new speed limit, or will the answer only become clear once it’s too late?
When we get into our cars in the morning and drive to work, slow down and look around, the answer is there in the faces of our community, and the people we share the road with.