School zone protest asks drivers to mind speed limits

Students atBessie Nichols and SisterAnnataBrockmanCatholic schoolsin southwest Edmonton waved placards at drivers Monday morning to remind them to slow down as they pass through their school zone on Hemingway Road.

Grade 5 and 6 students staged the rally to help make drivers aware ofEdmontons new 30 km/hschoolzones.

"You don't really feel safe when you're going across a crosswalk and a car's coming up if they're going really fast," said student Charlie Sherman. "They could like slide on the ice when they put their brakes on and hit you."

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Since the speed limits came into effect lastSeptember, photo radar caught about 18,000 speedersin schoolzones, the city said.

Police say one in six vehicles exceed school zone speed limits.

In the Bessie Nichols and SisterAnnataBrockmanschoolzone, the violation rate risesto one in five.

"The amount of speeding that happens here is unreal," said parent Dawn Ketchum. "It worries me because children need to be safe and it could happen in the blink of an eye and that would change lives forever."

School zone speed limits are in effectbetween 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. onschooldays.