SA school zone signs are an absolute mess | Stacey Lee

SA’s school zone laws are a mess, baffling drivers and putting kids at risk, writes FIVEAA’s Stacey Lee.

It’s anyone’s guess as to when you are supposed to go slow in a school zone, writes Stacey Lee. Picture: The Advertiser/ Morgan Sette

Why are we being ambiguous with kids’ safety?

On the commute to work I go past a primary school which is bordered by three roads.

One of them is a main road and the speed limit of 60 km/h is not reduced at all at any time. The other two roads have a speed limit of 40 kilometres an hour which is reduced to 25km/h “when children present”.

I drive this route every day between the hours of 7-9.30am, and every day I am left scratching my head about what the speed limit is.

Some days I can go past the school at 8am and I don’t see a soul, so I stick to the 60 and 40 km/h speed limits.

Other days I go past at 7.30am and see students being dropped off for what I assume is OHSC, or before school care, so I slow down to 25 km/h because there are children present.

Yesterday I drove past at 9.30am and saw a father crossing the road with a student looking hurried.

They were probably late, like I was.

So naturally I slowed down, not because I was required to, but because I assumed I should. And that, right there, is the problem. Leaving it to drivers to assume when they should or should not slow down.

FIVEAA’s Stacey Lee.

Do you find school zones confusing?

Technically I don’t think I was required to slow down. Does one child mean “children present”?

Linguistically, no, because “child” is singular and “children” is plural which implies more than one child must be present for a school speed limit to be in place.

But I don’t think we should ask motorists to linguistically interpret road signs when we are going past schools.

Why are we being ambiguous with the safety of our children? If there is one thing we should make REALLY clear, it’s keeping our kids safe.

Why aren’t speed limits on all roads around schools consistent?

In Sydney, where I grew up (don’t hold it against me) the speed limits around schools are uniform and clear.

There is one school zone speed out the front of every school and there are signs on every road bordering the school clearly stating the speed limit and the times of day that speed limit applies – usually 8-9.30am and 2.30-4pm.

The clear, concise school speed signs you see in Sydney.

Most of the time there are also lights that flash to alert you that you’re now driving through a school zone. If you miss it, you are an idiot and you deserve to lose your licence.

So, I was pleasantly surprised earlier this week when I saw news that the State Government announced a speed limit reduction around schools in Adelaide. I read The Advertiser headline and my first thought was “finally, some consistency”.

Then I read the detail, and it wasn’t consistency at all. Some roads will be reduced to 40km/h but not all.

And the speed limit will be changed “on weekdays, during school drop-off and pick-up times, but not on weekends, school holidays and public holidays.”

I’m not a parent, but even I know ‘drop-off and pick-up’ times can change depending on the school.

Some start at 8.30 or 9am and some finish at 2.30pm, 3pm or even 3.30pm.

Then there are schools which have different start and finish times on different days of the week.

Motorists don’t have the time, nor should they be responsible for checking or knowing, the individual start and finish times of the school they are driving past.

This is why we need consistent and clear signage. Remove the ambiguous “when children present” from road signs and replace it with specific times of day.

Because we cannot afford to be ambiguous with the safety of our children.