Slow down, kids are back to school

By Lia Bichel
WITH students back to the grind, drivers are reminded to slow down in school zones.
There were excited kids, nervous parents, welcoming teachers and friendly school crossing supervisors as students headed back to school last week.
City of Casey mayor Sam Aziz said the City of Casey operated one of the largest school crossing programs in Victoria with more than 200 school crossing supervisors, aged 18 to 88, looking after more than 70 primary and secondary schools and in excess of 160 supervised school crossings.
All of the school crossing supervisors are uniformed and qualified; undergoing a thorough induction and annual training programs.
“When approachingschool zones and schoolcrossings, motorists need to slow down, be alert and travel at a safe speed to ensure the safety of Casey’s youngest citizens,” Cr Aziz said.
Speed limits for school zones are designed to improve road safety outside schools while taking into account issues such as high traffic volumes, peak school pedestrian hours and school holidays.
Cr Aziz said there were several types of school speed limit zones, including permanent time-based and electronic variable speed limit reductions, so drivers should ensure they were aware of the appropriate speed limits around schools. As a reminder for drivers to be more mindful of their speed in school areas, a dedicated speed display has been deployed by the council around schools to advise drivers if they are travelling too fast, need to slow down or are travelling at a safe speed.