This is the kind of citation a motorist wants to get.
The City of Vernon RCMP Community Policing Office’s rural programs is teaming up with area schools for a “Thank You For Not Speeding” program, where motorists clocked going under or at the posted limit in a school zone receive a citation from students, created by students.
“School children will colour one of the attached Thank You For Not Seeding tickets one week prior to a session,” said Warren Smith, rural programs coordinator for the community policing office, who will provide a classroom talk on speeding and school zone safety during that time.
Run under the auspices of the speed watch program, Thank You For Not Speeding has a two-part component to it.
One is to provide an educational element to students and to drivers, reminding motorists they’re in a school zone where the posted speed limit is 30 km/hour.
Volunteers come out and set up a speed reader board that allows motorists and students to see how fast approaching cars are travelling, as well as cars that have gone past the reader board. That’s designed to bring further awareness to drivers, either getting them to slow down if they’re travelling higher than 30 km/h, or let them know they are doing a safe speed.
“The speed watch program is designed to educate drivers to bring awareness of speeding issues and improving safety,” said Smith.
The other component involves actual RCMP members, who are stationed along the chosen route and are doing actual enforcement. That is, they’re looking for speeders. If they find any, they’ll be pulled over and given a ticket.
Thank You For Not Speeding debuted in Armstrong, with kids from the Armstrong Senior Alternate School helping volunteers record data from the reader board.
That data is forwarded to ICBC, local RCMP detachment and municipal governments so they’re aware of any speeding issues in the community.
Students from Armstrong Senior Alternate worked alongside RCMP members for a one-hour period in a posted school zone on Wood Avenue.
Any motorists they caught going under the posted speed limit were pulled over by the students into the Highland Elementary School parking lot, and given Thank You For Not Speeding citations created by Highland Park students.
