RCMP give tips for back to school driver safety

MERRITT – With students going back to school after the Labour Day weekend, Merritt RCMP is reminding drivers about safety around school zones.

“It can be an exciting time and I guess we need to talk about those school zones that are back being active,” said Marlene Jones, Community Policing Office Coordinator.

Jones said those driving through school zones need to be really paying attention and remember the speed limit after the summer off.

“Those are 30 km zones between 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. on school days so something drivers really need to pay attention to.”

Along with parents dropping off their kids in the school zones, there will be busier traffic throughout the city with kids returning to school.

“There are school busses on the streets and we are going to see more of those in the community now and we want to remind people when there lights are flashing vehicles in both directions must stop,” said Jones. “Then just an extra care in watching for pedestrians around vehicles, so if a vehicle stopped in front of you just have to be careful there is going to be a lot more kids out and about the area of schools and streets.”

Community Policing Officer, Blake Chursinoff echos the need for extra attention as this could be some new territory for parents or students.

“We want to remind parents to slow down, give yourself some extra time, especially that first week of school as yourself and the little a get used to the school routine. Especially for kindergartens this is their first time so they actually don’t even really know where they are going so give yourself extra time, go slow, make sure your doing your shoulder checks, and looking around,” said Chursinoff.

While it is back to school time, they are still reminding people about a basic yet important rule of the road, distracted driving.

“Finally the distraction is a leading factor for drivers, so again we need to remind you to just leave your phone alone and pay special attention,” said Jones.

“You will have all day to sit on your phone so just hang tight a couple of more minutes, your kids will be off to school and you will have a great day,” said Chursinoff.

Students go back to school on Tuesday, September 6.