It’s back to school time, and with September comes a reminder from the City of Calgary, that the new playground and school zone times are now in effect. The new zone times came into effect September 1, 2014, and see both playground zones and school zones with the same time-frames.
The new zone times are as follows:
- Playground zones are in effect from 7:30 am to 9 pm, all-year round
- School zones are in effect from 7:30 am to 9 pm, on school days only
There are 180 school zones and 1,510 playground zones in Calgary, and the Calgary Police will start enforcing these new zones immediately.
In case you missed it, the City changed the zone hours to one consistent time as a proactive measure to improve pedestrian safety. In making the decision, the Calgary Police, Alberta Motor Association and other Alberta municipalities were consulted.
The “one hour after sunset” end time for playground zones was too open-ended. End times would vary from as early as 5 p.m. in winter, and as late as 11 p.m. in summer. The unspecified end time made it difficult for drivers to consistently follow the rules. Schools are regularly used in the evenings for extracurricular activities, such as community sports – the old times did not take after-hours use into account. [City of Calgary]
A reminder to slow down to 30 km/hour while playground and school zones are in effect, and more information on this change can be found on the City of Calgary website.
