North Burnaby parents are calling for an increased police presence to ticket speeders and jaywalkers around Capitol Hill Elementary.
The school sits on a busy corner at Hastings Street and Holdom Avenue and is plagued with numerous traffic-related problems.
“It’s totally a recipe for disaster,” said Ariel Pavic, chair of the school's parent advisory council. “This year already, someone opened a door, and a car door was hit. It’s just a miracle it wasn’t children coming out from the parked cars.”
According to Pavic, the parents’ main concern is the morning rush hour, when people drop their kids off at school. Parents are leaving their kids on the west side of Holdom, which children need to cross to get to class, and vehicles speeding down Holdom make it dangerous. There are students jaywalking, only one crossing guard at the Holdom and Hastings intersection, another intersection with no guard, limited parking spaces and parents who drop their kids off and make U-turns. Pavic said the parent advisory council has reached out to other parents, trying to re-educate them about driving practices around the school, and they have also formed a traffic safety committee and volunteer to patrol the streets.
“We are trying to take responsibility for the actions that are community related, … but also there needs to be more attention brought to speeding in general in school zones,” Pavic said. “It’s frustrating because what we see is there’s not enough regular visible presence of the police that are issuing tickets.”
This isn’t the first time the parents have taken their concerns public. Last year, they petitioned the City of Burnaby to conduct a traffic assessment of the school zone to improve safety in the area, and some changes have been made or are underway, including the installation of signs prohibiting U-turns.
The petition also went to the RCMP, asking for a stronger police presence by the school.
“The RCMP came once. They were very nice, they did hand out tickets to speeders, but they did tell me basically, ‘We are busy,’ ” Pavic said. “Parents will get ticketed for parking longer than they are supposed to in a drop-off zone, but I’ve never seen the RCMP ticket for speeding in a school zone. … I think there should be resources made available for more regular policing in school zones.”
Making sure school zones are safe is somewhat of a joint responsibility between schools, police and the City of Burnaby. The schools look after the grounds, the police can ticket for traffic infractions, and the city takes care of nearby sidewalks and streets and can issue parking tickets. The city also helps the district by voluntarily paying for some of the crossing guards, which are distributed to local schools based on need, but there aren’t enough to go around.
As for police, Coun. Sav Dhaliwal, who sits on the city’s traffic safety committee, told the NOW that the city can’t micro manage their work.
“From our perspective, we rely on the police to judge that it’s definitely a speeding problem,” Dhaliwal said. “How much police resources go to one school is pretty much up to police.”
Staff-Sgt. Major John Buis said parents can contact the Burnaby RCMP or the community policing office on Hastings if they have concerns about traffic safety around schools, however, police have already looked into the issues at Capitol Hill and speed doesn’t appear to be the problem.
“It’s more about U-turns, people driving inappropriately while dropping off students,” Buis said. “That’s not to say that people on any given day aren’t speeding, but speed doesn’t appear to be an issue. It’s more about the driving habits.”
Police try to go to schools where the need is greatest and where there is the biggest threat to public safety, Buis added.
“We don’t want anyone to be hurt,” he said. “We can do enforcement, but that’s just one tool.”
Educating people in the area, talking to the parents, or bringing in volunteers with the community policing office’s Speed Watch program are also options. Speed Watch volunteers can use radar to detect speed, which is displayed on an electronic sign, and police can be on site ticketing, as well.
Buis said concerned parents should contact the police at 604-294-7922.
