Drivers may face a fine, or a more poignant reminder to slow down and pay attention on Oak Bay roads this week.
The Oak Bay Police Department is adapting Think of Me program, started by the RCMP, where officers ask elementary students to draw pictures of how they perceive driving can be hazardous to them as students.
Police officers then hand out the drawings to speeding drivers alongside either a warning or a ticket.
Const. Markus Lueder, Oak Bay’s school liaison officer, pulled drivers over in the École Willows Elementary school zone this afternoon.
“We as police officers, hand these drawings out just to remind drivers that slowing down in the school zone is not for us as police officers,” says Lueder. “We encourage people to slow down because there are students going to school, and if they had struck a child, all the sorries in the world would not repair the damage.”
This art is awesome, but it may be the only kids' art you won't be proud to display! If you speed in a #schoolzone in #oakbay, in addition to a ticket for up to $483, you may receive a drawing from a Willows Elementary student asking you to pls drive responsibly. @sd61schools pic.twitter.com/vfHvxs1TyD
— Oak Bay Police (@OakBayPolice) November 14, 2017
There were 25 collisions reported between October 2015 and October 2017 in the area from Foul Bay Road and Cadboro Bay Road to the 2700 block of Cadboro Bay Road (the Thompson Avenue area), says Lueder. “Personally I think that is quite hefty.”
The Think of Me approach is designed to raise awareness and add a human consequence to speeding in school zones.
keri.coles@oakbaynews.com
