Saskatoon’s school zone restrictions now in effect

If you’re heading past a school between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., you’re going to have to slow down.

School zone speed limits officially took effect at 8 a.m. Tuesday.

Technically, the change comes one week prior to the start of the school year. School zones decrease to 30 kilometres per hour in the nine-hour time period, Monday to Friday.

Saskatoon Police Chief Troy Cooper joined John Gormley Monday morning, discussing the change.

“Legally, they are in effect beginning Sept. 1. I’m just letting the public know, effective when the date that kids are back at school… we’ll actually be present in those zones,” he said. “They will be very much enforced beginning when the kids get back Sept. 8.”

In addition to the change in speed limits, U-turns are also restricted in school zones. The fine sits at $90 for that infraction.

The fine for speeding in school zones starts at $170.

When Saskatchewan’s schools were closed at the beginning of the pandemic, school zones remained in effect in Saskatoon until the end of June.

Shortly after the March 20 closure at the March city council meeting, Chief Cooper told council how they expected to enforce the zones without students within the area.

“Our priority focus for traffic and enforcement is not school zones. There’s no one at schools.”

He said there is a legal requirement that remains in school zones but traffic enforcement is restricted to egregious offences at this time.

“We’d still like people to monitor their speed,” he said. “Whether there’s a police presence there or not, to comply with the speed limits.”

He said cameras at school zone locations have been moved to other areas where they’re “more useful.”

– With files from 650 CKOM’s Brady Lang