Interesting:
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/Edmon...156/story.html
Edmonton is implementing school zone speed reductions (from 8-4:30) this fall for the first time in 40 years.
Also, I found the Province's guidelines for where Playground and School zones should be placed:
http://www.transportation.alberta.ca...n/schlpgnd.pdf
Page 25 of the PDF has the scorecard for determining whether a Playground zone should be put in an area. A minimum score of 81 is supposed to be required to justify a Playground zone. I can think of many Playground zones in this city that would not score that high.
I found this quote interesting...
Quote:
School and Playground Zones and Areas should be used sparingly, and in accordance with these Guidelines. Zones and Areas should not be provided in an attempt to increase the safety of crossing the roadway; other devices have been developed and should be applied for such a purpose.
The WC‐1 and WC‐3 signs of the MUTCDC are to be provided to warn motorists of the presence of a school or playground, respectively, and hence the possibility of children entering the roadway.
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The problem is that Calgary does not use them sparingly. Why that is a problem is two-fold: First, when there are too many of these zones and they go on too long, people get desensitized to them and instead of watching for kids, they watch their speedometer. Second, parents and kids can get a false sense of security and assume that just because there's a Playground or School zone, nothing bad can happen.
By far the worst drivers I've ever seen around schools are the idiot parents dropping their kids off who stop across the street from the school and have their kids hop out and run across the street to the school. These are the morons who whine that they need a school zone because it isn't safe for their kids to cross the street, when they're the ones making it unsafe for their kids to cross the street.