Children walking, bicycling or riding the bus back to school may forget basic road safety rules. In Alberta, traffic injuries are the leading cause of death and hospitalization to children younger than 14. Motorists must use caution and adhere to speed limits when driving through and around school or playground zones.

Children don’t have the same perception of traffic dangers as adults do. They have a tendency to dart into traffic after a friend, pet, or toy. The increased excitement of starting a new school year coupled with less accurate depth perception and difficulty judging the speed of oncoming vehicles makes children more susceptible to pedestrian collisions.