Shorter zones, shorter times best way to help people slow down in school zones, says researcher

If the City of Regina wants more people to obey school speed zones, itshould limit the length of the zones and shorten the hours they're in effect, says a U.S. researcher.

More than 2,000 tickets were handed out in Regina school zones in September. At the beginning of the school year, the city lowered the speed limit to 30 km/hfrom 40 km/h. The tickets were a mix of police-issued tickets and photo radar.

Enforcement is an effective way to have people slow down, said Marcus Brewer, a research engineer with the Texas A&M Transportation Institute. But there's another way: when people can visually see a need to slow down, people will naturally follow the limits without enforcement, Brewer said.

If people see students, they slow down.

The city should focus the lower speed time around when the school day begins and ends, he said, because it makes it more effective.

The later in the day, the more likely drivers are to speed. This also goes for weekends as people don't have those visual cues, he said. Regina's lower speeds are in effect seven days a week.

"Once the school day is over and most people have left their compliance tends to go down," he said. "People tend to start speeding up.

"Then it's just kind of driving down the road like any other road that doesn't have a school on it."

Saskatoon's speed zones are more likely to have people follow them, he said, as they're closer to school hours from8 a.m. to 5 p.m. WhereasRegina's limit isin place from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Physically shortening the school zones, as happened in Regina this September, should also help people slow down, Brewer said.

"Some people get farther away from a school, they tend to see less need," Brewersaid. "The longer it is, the less people are willing to continue to slow down," he said.

Brewer said having a lower limit does help in the event of a crash between pedestrians and cars, as injuries become more serious as speed increases.

The City of Regina says they will be reducing speed zones to 30 km/hr in playground areas as well.