Police are ramping up school zone patrols when students return to class today (Wednesday).
The Kootenay Boundary Regional RCMP have advised the public that when spring break ends, officers will be concentrating on school zone enforcement from this week throughout the West Kootenay.
“This will help ensure that vehicles travelling through the school zones will comply with the lower speed limits in effect from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.,” RCMP Inspector Tim Olmstead said in a news release. “In addition, please respect our school buses which will be stopping to pick up and drop off students. It is illegal to pass a school bus in either direction when displaying its stop sign and flashing red lights.”
Nine amalgamated police units, serving Grand Forks, the Slocan Valley, and Trail to Nelson, comprise the Kootenay Boundary Regional RCMP detachment.
“The Kootenay Boundary Regional Detachment RCMP want all of our children to get to school safely for the remainder of the year,” Olmstead says. “We thank the public for their cooperation in keeping our students and roads safe.”
He advises all travellers to slow down, buckle up, and stay off their devices.
The province has sponsored various campaigns to remind drivers about road rules in school zones, including the 30 km/hr speed limit.
The most recent was called Operation Safe Stop BC, which sent a message from bus drivers across the province that when the bus stops, all cars must stop.