School zones should not be hard to miss.
If you are following the speed limit in urban or rural areas where the posted limits are not more than 100 kilometres per hour, the signs should be pretty easy to see.
Such zones should also be easier to recognize at certain times, with flashing lights from buses or hordes of children milling about, so why is it that obeying the rules appears to be difficult for many people?
According to Parachute Canada, a charitable organization for the prevention of motor-vehicle related injury, preventable injuries kill more Canadian children than any single disease or any other leading cause combined, weighing in at over 16,000 deaths and more than 3.5 million visits to the emergency room each year.
A report, conducted by Safe Kids Canada, suggested that approximately 12 children between the ages of one and nine died as a result of vehicle-pedestrian collisions, a number taken out of a total 43 Canadian fatalities in 2008.
Bright colours should attract your attention.
However, Transport Canada collision statistics for 2013 reflect differently and show that 742 out of 1,741 fatal accidents occurred in urban areas, whereas 976 happened in rural places and 23 had a location that was not stated.
This translates to 15.6 per cent of all collisions being the result of pedestrian road usage across Canada, regardless of age group.
The Town of Barrhead has pedestrian crosswalks that are clearly identified by the flashing yellow lights that hang over all of the major intersections and recognized points of heavy traffic.
Common sense, and the law, tells us we need to slow down and be prepared to stop at such places, because someone is trying to walk across the road.
Unless visibility is poor or they are quite short individuals, people are not very hard to miss either, though it is probably more difficult to avoid them the faster one is travelling.
Getting a speeding ticket or a fine is a real pain and the costs add up.
Substantial financial consequences, demerit points, the possible seizure of the vehicle, 12-month driving prohibitions, even jail time, the list of traffic-related charges that can be applied to your personal record is pretty detailed.
If you work outside of the town you live in, getting to your job might be difficult without a license, and let’s face it, these days not every boss is so accommodating.
In light of other criminal activity, both locally and nationally, does it not seem likely that the police and other emergency services might have better things to do than to chase you down and force you to obey a trivial thing like a speed limit?
Societies have laws for a reason.
Rules and restrictions are not put into force by crazy individuals who have nothing to occupy their time with or are focused solely on inconveniencing you.
If only the world was that simple.
Our advice is to slow down, stay alert and pay attention to your speed.
