LAKELAND - With the lazy days of summer winding down and students across the Lakeland preparing to head back to the classroom during the first week of September, municipalities in the region are reminding the public to keep safety in mind.
The Town of Bonnyville is reminding drivers to slow down, stay alert, and put safety first.
Sukhchain Khaira, the bylaw enforcement officer for the Town of Bonnyville, said first and foremost, the public must be aware that school will be back in session shortly.
“Drivers need to pay extra attention when driving near schools and remember that there are peak traffic times before and after school,” Khaira said.
When asked about the time and resources that the Town of Bonnyville commits to enforcement and ensuring that drivers are slowing down in school zones and not passing busses, Khaira said the municipality works collaboratively with the RCMP to strategically enforce all traffic issues. However, at the beginning of the school year, there is a larger focus on school zone safety.
In Alberta, failing to stop for a school bus with red lights flashing can result in a $567 fine and six demerit points. The speed limit in school zones across the province is 30 km per hour. Under the Traffic Safety Act, drivers who speed through school zones can be charged with careless driving.
This brings with it fines ranging from $567-$2,000, the loss of six demerits, along with potential insurance hikes.
“Fines for traffic violations vary based on the infraction, and there is some correlation to a higher number of infractions at the beginning of the school year,” Khaira explained.
“It is important to understand that drivers should be following the rules because the safety of students is important, not just because they can be ticketed.”
Austin Szmidt, a Community Peace Officer (CPO) with Lac La Biche County Enforcement Services who also serves as the school resource officer with the municipality, said with classes starting, the biggest thing law enforcement officials want the public to keep in mind and be aware of is the foot traffic that will be going to and from local schools.
“Kids are going to be excited to go back to school, so making sure that the drivers and anyone who’s in the area . . . is aware of possibly kids running out or not using the crosswalk due to them being excited, as well as drivers really being aware of where the school zones start, the times that they are in effect, and then the speed limit that it is a part of,” Szmidt said.
During the summer holidays, people quite often get accustomed to school zones not being in effect.
“A lot of the times, it’s just a happenstance that they don’t realize the school year is starting back . . . and that the school zones are still 30 kilometres an hour,” he stated. “That’s the biggest thing that people forget.”
Enforcement Services in Lac La Biche typically posts CPOs in different areas within school zones. There is no specified schedule, he added, which keeps drivers on their toes as they don’t know the exact times or locations when officers will be on the lookout for those going over posted speed limits.
“We like to be there obviously during the peak times, mornings, afternoons, at lunch, and in the evenings. We do have a tendency to have less leniency when it comes to school zones,” he said, explaining that enforcement officials want to make sure the students, faculty and staff at schools are feeling safe.
While school zone enforcement is relatively straightforward, when it comes to catching drivers passing busses with stop signs out and red lights flashing, that, Szmidt explained, is a little bit harder for law enforcement to track, as officers need to be there at the exact same time when the infraction is committed.
The first day of school for the 2025-26 school year for students in the Lakeland Catholic School Division is Aug. 28, while students in Northern Lights Public Schools (NLPS) return to class on Sept. 2.
