Students are returning to class this week, and that means school zones are coming back into effect.
Students are returning to class this week, and that means school zones are coming back into effect.
In other words, motorists who might have over the summer months grown accustomed to cruising past River Valley School as well as Sundre High School are reminded to as of this Thursday, Aug. 31 slow down to 30 kilometres per hour during school days from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
If being ticketed and fined does not serve as sufficient motivation to drive more cautiously past the schools, then consider the lifelong psychological impact that would undoubtedly haunt a driver who in a reckless rush accidentally struck and wounded — or worse killed — a child.
No one needs that weighing down his or her conscience.
While buses accommodate and deliver almost directly in front of the schools' front doors a large portion of the overall number of students, a significant number who live nearby nevertheless commendably opt to go on foot.
Of course road safety is a two-way street — pun intended.
Motorists can be reminded and urged to be careful until the cows come home, but students must also be ingrained with the basics of staying safe. Looking both ways before crossing and making sure never to dart out into the street from between parked vehicles are lessons that simply cannot be learned the hard way.
So parents and guardians who might not yet have had this important discussion with their children should not delay another second.
And although some students walk to school from the surrounding nearby residential areas, others ride their bikes. The Sundre RCMP detachment's Cpl. Joe Mandel recently told the Round Up parents and guardians should keep in mind that youths up to the age of 16 are by law required to wear a helmet.
Ensuring Sundre's students stay safe on the way to and from school is a shared responsibility. Even for those who do not themselves have kids.
But we at the Round Up are certain there will be no major mishaps so long as everyone plays his or her part and remains vigilant.
We wish all of our students the best of success in their studies and extracurricular pursuits in the upcoming 2017-18 school year!
— Ducatel is the Round Up's editor
