Regina students wear speed radar backpacks to encourage slower speeds in school zones

Next time you're driving in a Regina school zone, students might show you how fast you're going.

The City of Regina teamed up with Regina police, CAA Saskatchewan and the public and Catholic school divisions to run a two-week pilot program at four elementary schools: Ethel Milliken, W.S. Hawrylak, St. Francis and St. Jerome.

During the pilot, one student safety patroller will stand with a radar stick and another — roughly 15 metres behind — will stand alongside a school resource officer while wearing a backpack with a wirelessly-connected speedometer on display.

Carolyn Kalim, the City of Regina's manager of traffic engineering, said the goal is to remind drivers to obey the 30 km/h speed limit in school zones, which is in effect from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

"It's always wonderful to have students involved. It's a really great educational opportunity for them, as well as a way to just highlight that they can play a part in encouraging motorists to slow down," she said.

In April, a CAA school zone safety assessment found 515 driver infractions, including speedings, in two Regina school zones.

"It's a problem we all need to pay attention to," said Angel Blair, a spokesperson for CAA Saskatchewan, which runs the school safety patrol programs across the province.

"Whether you slow down from 50 km/h to 30 km/h … it doesn't make much difference on your commute, but what it does do is it makes it safer for the community."

'It brings a face to the speed'

Kalim said the city initially got the speed radar backpack idea from Quebec, which recently tested this out. Regina is the first in Saskatchewan to give it a try. 

"I feel like it brings a face to the speed and [drivers] recognize, 'Wow, I'm driving through a school zone and there could be a student or a child nearby.' Hopefully, that'll make them slow down. And from what we saw, it did," Const. Andrea Costanza said.

The program kicked off Thursday at Ethel Milliken Elementary School in the city's south end.

Principal Hillary Ibbott Neiszner, who runs the school's safety patrol program, said her 24-student squad is ready to take part in the pilot.

"They were just so excited at the prospect of just wearing that backpack and having that radar. It really made them feel important," she said.

"It's just another layer to slow the people down before they even get to the crosswalk, and that's going to increase the likelihood that they will stop and the children will cross safely."

Grade 6 students Harry Kangles and Natalie Pelzer — two of a handful of safety patrol captains at the school — were among those trained to run the pilot.

Despite it being a risky job, both 11-year-olds said they're committed to keeping their classmates safe.

"I love doing stuff that can help others, and I like doing safety patrol because there's more responsibility," Kangles said.

"I wouldn't want to be the person that was feeling like it was unsafe to cross the road every single time you crossed," Pelzer added. 

"Knowing that you're safe and that there's people protecting you from getting hit by cars just makes you feel so much safer."

Over the next two weeks, the city plans to work with police, CAA and school safety patrols to evaluate if this initiative is worth expanding. If they determine it is, drivers could see more living speedometers in school zones by next year.