As you may have noticed on your daily commute, The City of Edmonton has changed playground zone speed limits.
The new speed limits come with some interesting and alarming statistical research.
Did you know, when children are struck by vehicles, there injuries are often life threatening or permanent. The faster the vehicle is moving the greater the impact and results.
Here are some statistics provided by the City of Edmonton.
- Children Aged 5-14 are the greatest at risk of pedestrian related deaths
- Children Aged 10-14 years have the highest incident rate of pedestrian related incidents
- Children are more prone to pedestrian related incidents due to their difficulty judging the speed and distance of cars.
- Children tend to not understand that vehicles need a certain amount of time to come to a complete stop, they tend to have a limited sense of danger, and limited peripheral vision.
- In the last 5 years, there was 176 Injury collisions involving children 15 or younger. 37% of the incidents occurred in playground zones.
- 20% of the injuries required hospitalization.
- 99% of the injuries occurred between the hours of 7:30 am to 9pm. Hence why the playground zone speed limits were changed.
Approximate Survival rate for pedestrians hit by vehicles:
30km.hour 90% Survival Rate
40km/hour 60% Survival Rate
50 km/hour 20% Survival Rate
60 km/hour 2.5% Survival Rate
Based off these statistics, playground zones/school zones have placed 30km speed limits in the city of Edmonton between 7:30 am to 21:00.
Many people question why this is necessary to be extended to 9 pm at night, just remember to all the non-parents out there, School is out for summer, that means longer play dates in the park, the daylight hours are extended, therefore more parents are willing to be more lenient on allowing their children to be outside later.
Now take this into consideration when you are on your daily commute. SLOW DOWN!! Follow the posted speed limits and scan the roads for pedestrians.