Ecole Oceanside Elementary located at Wright road and Hwy 19A, was formerly a middle school that converted to an elementary school in 2014 when there were school closures in Parksville. We have children as young as 4 and 5 years old walking to school with their families and crossing at the intersections at Wright and Hwy 19A, as well as Wright and Wembley rd (a 4 way stop).
HASTe is British Columbia’s leading active and safe routes to school programmer and resource centre. We are the Hub for Active School Travel (HASTe) and work with communities and partners across the province to connect kids, schools and communities through walking and cycling.
Prospect Lake Elementary School is located in the 200 block of Prospect Lake Rd. A few years ago another nearby elementary school was shut down and all the students were sent here. The school population doubled.
Tuesday, September 3, 2019 at 8:07 am marks the opening of the elementary school nearest to where I live. Time to think about school zones and school bus safety for another year.
The Parent Advisory Council for Hans Helgesen Elementary School near Victoria wanted to solve pedestrian safety issues on Rocky Point Road. The Council was working with the District of Metchosin and wanted to have a marked crosswalk installed at that road's intersection with Windover Terrace. The District was reluctant to do this.
Seven years ago I wrote about a safe trip to school, commenting on my experience that a significant part of the safety problem was caused by teachers and parents themselves. Their driving behaviour as they showed up to work or dropped off their children sometimes left a lot to be desired. Did they not realize that they were creating their own problem?
We place a high value on our children and signify that with school and playground zones. Traffic is required to slow to the lowest speed limit that we normally post and drivers are expected to pay more attention than usual. Students must get to and from school safely.
Having said that, sometimes the greatest danger in a school zone is presented by parents and teachers.
Yes, it's time to consider going back to school again this year. Will it be safe for our children to go to and from school each day?
Somewhere in British Columbia an unsafe situation will be identified and someone will try to do something about it. Understanding what traffic engineers will consider may significantly increase the chances of successfully implementing a change.
It occurred to me that the term "school days" on the school zone signs is becoming more and more ambiguous. What is a school day?
For example, some school districts take a 2 week spring break, others only one, some schools are going with shorter summer vacations, what about ProD days? Some private schools have different schedules. It used to be much more uniform date-wise.
Probably the oddest response that I ever had to school zone speed enforcement came early in my career. I caught a teacher driving to work at the school where I was watching. She received a traffic ticket for failing to slow down and went straight to the principal to complain. He came out to speak with me and thanked me for taking the time to work the zone and encouraged me to come back often.
Ecole Oceanside Elementary located at Wright road and Hwy 19A, was formerly a middle school that converted to an elementary school in 2014 when there were school closures in Parksville. We have children as young as 4 and 5 years old walking to school with their families and crossing at the intersections at Wright and Hwy 19A, as well as Wright and Wembley rd (a 4 way stop).
Prospect Lake Elementary School is located in the 200 block of Prospect Lake Rd. A few years ago another nearby elementary school was shut down and all the students were sent here. The school population doubled.
Tuesday, September 3, 2019 at 8:07 am marks the opening of the elementary school nearest to where I live. Time to think about 
