Two months have passed since school zones were introduced around Edmonton elementary schools, with speed limits of 30 kilometres an hour – but officials say many drivers are not getting the message, so the grace period is over and drivers who speed in those areas will start getting tickets, instead of warnings.

Since school started in September, police have monitored a total of 38,198 vehicles – and found about 56 percent were travelling at or below the speed limit, leaving 44 percent who didn’t.

Also since September EPS and the City of Edmonton Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) has issued 5,480 warnings to drivers who exceeded those limits.

Those numbers have officials concerned.

“We’re still not comfortable with the compliance rate,” Gerry Shimko with the Office of Traffic Safety said.

The City reported ten schools where the poorest compliance numbers had been recorded:

  • St. Philip Elementary School (144 Avenue and 88 Street)
  • St. Boniface School (40 Avenue and 118 Street)
  • Northmount School (140 Avenue and 118 Street)
  • Ecole Publique Gabrielle-Roy (95 Avenue and 87 Street)
  • Millwoods Christian School (Mill Woods Road and 91 Street)
  • Ormsby Elementary School (184 Street and 62B Avenue)
  • Inglewood Elementary School (127 Street and 115 Avenue)
  • Talmud Torah School (122 Street and Callingwood Road)
  • Holy Family Elementary-Junior High School and TD Baker School (Millwoods Road E and 17 Avenue)
  • St. Elizabeth Elementary School (Millwoods Road and 36 Avenue)

As a result, starting in November, officials promise to enforce the speed limit.

“As we move forward into November, we’ll be working with the [Edmonton] Police Service to ramp up our efforts,” Shimko said.

The change comes as City Council passes a bylaw for the lowered speed limit, making the change permanent.

“So we still have a speeding problem in our city, and it’s unfortunate that it’s near where our kids go to school,” Mayor Don Iveson said.

Tickets for speeding infractions start at $57, and go up depending on the speed the vehicle was moving at.

With files from Bill Fortier