Canberra is a thriving capital city in Australia. Generally speaking, Canberra is a very safe place to live. Though that comes down to the rules we have implemented to protect society. School zones are a prime example of the road rules we have implemented to make going to school, safer for everyone. Especially our children who are more vulnerable. Most schools are located away from a main road making it safer for kids to get access to the location on a school day. Though regardless of the location of the school, motorists need to be aware of their surroundings when passing schools and in general. It’s important to maintain good safety by sticking to the road rules and watching out for kids that are on and around roads. This is when school zone speed limits come into affect and if breached, can cause some major damage physically, mentally and financially.
What is a school zone?
A school zone is an area located around a school. Each school has signs that are dedicated to telling motorists that they are approaching a school zone and that the speed limit is reduced to 40km. School zones include drop off and pick up areas, pedestrian/school crossings. By reducing your speed to 40km, you are protecting kids, staff and parents within a school. Kids are small and can be hard to spot sometimes which can add an extra element of complexity to driving through school areas. It’s important to maintain the reduced speed limit of the school zone to provide road safety not only for yourself, but for the children and adults around the area. Children can sometimes behave unpredictable and are vulnerable people so extra care is required.
When do I need to follow the school zone speed limit?
The hours of these school zones in the ACT are between the hours of 8am and 4pm, Monday to Friday. This coincides with the school opening times each day when the most amount of traffic is coming to and from each school. Heavy penalties of fines and loss of demerit points apply to those who drive over the school zone speed limit or if other school zone laws are broken. The ACT does have signs in place that can be opened and closed to signify if the zone limits apply. If the sign open, the zone is active and school speed zones apply. If it’s closed, you should do the default 50km speed limit unless otherwise signposted. However, school zone speed limits are still in place during pupil free days to prevent confusion within motorists which in turn improves the safety of school children and other pedestrians.
What does this mean for school holidays?
During school holidays, you are not required to stick to the school zone speed limit. School zones only apply during the school term’s which generally run for 10 weeks with a minimum two week break in between with the exception of the Christmas break which runs longer. If the school zone sign is closed, you can do the normal speed limit attached to that strip of road.
Abiding by the school zone limits in relation to speed has been proven to reduce the risk of accidents between motorists and pedestrians within school zones across our many schools in Canberra. As a very low number has been reported in the ACT around incidents in school zones with children involved. Implementing school zone times into road safety within the Australian Capital Territory has been an effective measure of controlling the safety of some of our most vulnerable people in society – children.
