General News
23 March, 2023
Drivers told to slow down in school zones
Authorities are encouraging the community to prioritise safe driving practices around children by adhering to speed limits in school zones. Drivers ignoring stop signs and going over the designated 40 km/h in Maryborough’s school zones is...
Authorities are encouraging the community to prioritise safe driving practices around children by adhering to speed limits in school zones.
Drivers ignoring stop signs and going over the designated 40 km/h in Maryborough’s school zones is a growing concern for police.
According to VicRoads, these zones with reduced speeds are created to ensure the safety of kids travelling to and from school.
Maryborough Police Leading Senior Constable Natalie Passalick said people needed to be more vigilant driving through these zones as kids can often be unpredictable.
“I’ve been targeting school zones lately and a big [problem] is not stopping at stop signs. We recently also got someone travelling through a school zone at about 17 kms over the limit — we clocked them at 57 km in a 40 km zone,” she said.
“It’s important for people to remember the speed limit and stopping at the stop sign gives you that extra bit of time to ensure that the road’s clear before you enter it.
“A lot of the kids are hard to see and they don’t have a great road sense and that’s why we drive slower around the school zones because kids can dart out at any time.”
Led Sen Con Passalick said it was important to remind the public to be careful around schools after witnessing lax behaviours from numerous drivers.
“Since this school year started, I was aware that there was an issue with vehicles not stopping at stop signs — there was one shift that I worked where I issued three penalty notices in a short period of time,” she said.
“I think people need to remember they are sharing the road with a lot of other users including pedestrians especially around the school times, there’s an increase in kids on the roads so drivers need to be focused and vigilant.
“Take it easy, slow down, take the extra moment to properly stop and everyone can get home safe.”
The VicRoads website notes that there are two types of school zones — permanent 40 km/h and time-based zones — the latter operates on weekdays during the school term from 8 to 9.30 am and 2.30 to 4 pm, with an exception for public holidays.