On Tuesday, March 29, 2022, a CAA School Zone Safety Assessment was conducted at Shaunavon Public School in Shaunavon, Saskatchewan. The assessment took place before school from 8:15 a.m. to 9:00 a.m., lunch dismissal from 11:40 a.m. to 12:15 p.m., and after school from 3:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Staff from the Town of Shaunavon, the Shaunavon RCMP detachment, and community volunteers worked onsite in teams to track risky behaviours for motorists, pedestrians, and cyclists in the school zone.

“The CAA School Zone Safety Assessment is an online application (app) that tracks the identified risky behaviours and ultimately provides education and awareness about the importance of school zone safety,” said Vanora Gagnier, CAA School Zone Safety Coordinator. The assessment tool is free of charge and can be booked through CAA Saskatchewan. School or community staff must make themselves available for onsite tracking and can work with CAA to establish the risky behaviours to be tracked. The results are collected and given to the school community to share with staff, students, families, community partners, and decision makers regarding necessary steps to improve the safety in their school zones.

Bonnie Lingenfelter, spokesperson for the Town of Shaunavon, remarked “we as a community, now more than ever, need to work on providing the safest place for our children to attend school. Safety may not be top of mind, so through the CAA School Zone Safety Assessment App, we are able to track motorist, pedestrian, and cyclist risky behaviours, for the purpose to educate and grow our community into the safest place for our children to live, play, and flourish.”

According to the March 29 Shaunavon Public School assessment, the top hazardous driving behaviours that motorists perform in the school zone are failing to stop at stop sign, failing to signal to turn, and speeding. The top risky pedestrian behaviours are jaywalking and failing to look both ways before crossing the street. The top risky cyclist behaviours are not wearing a bicycle helmet and cycling on a sidewalk.

CAA reminds motorists that we can work together to make our school zones safe by:

• Observing and obeying the posted speed limits and hours that the speed limits are enforced
• Eliminating distracted driving
• Obeying traffic laws
• Understanding and abiding by the ‘no stopping’ and ‘no parking’ signage

It’s good safety practice for pedestrians to STOP, LOOK, LISTEN and THINK before crossing streets and busy intersections. Students and families, please remember to cross at crosswalks and marked intersections and never jaywalk. Avoid being a distracted pedestrian – be alert and attentive by putting your mobile devices away and removing headphones and earphones.

CAA reminds families and cyclists that bicycles are considered, by law, a vehicle on the road and cyclists must obey the same rules when travelling on the road. If you dismount and walk alongside your bike, you’re considered a pedestrian and have the same rights as a pedestrian.

The combined number of risky behaviours at Shaunavon Public School during the CAA School Zone Safety Assessment is 343. Detailed results.

Learn more at caask.ca/schoolzonesafety and download the CAA Youth Safety booklet.

For further information, contact:

Vanora Gagnier
CAA School Zone Safety and CAA School Safety Patrol Coordinator
CAA Saskatchewan
306.216.7362
vanora.gagnier@caask.ca

Bonnie Lingenfelter
Regional Bylaw Officer
Town of Shaunavon
306.297.2605
regionalbylaw@gmail.com

Tara Fritz
Chief Administrative Officer
Town of Shaunavon
306.297.2605
shaunavon@sasktel.net