Regina police issue 395 school zone speeding tickets in September

Less than a full month into new school zone speed limits in Regina, the city’s police service has already issued 395 speeding tickets for violations in school zones.

City council voted to change speed limits to 30 kilometres per hour, seven days per week, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Police began issuing tickets for school zone speeders on the first day of school, Sept. 3.

Const. Mike Seel told 980 CJME’s Greg Morgan about the tickets on Monday morning.

“There’s that (absent-minded drivers), or they’re just in a hurry. They’re in a rush to drop their kids off; a lot of the time it’s parents of kids that go to that school, or trying to drop their kids off at another school,” he said.

Seel also talked about drivers using their cellphones and distracted driving. He recently issued his 1,000th ticket for distracted driving.

He said in those instances, he sometimes sees drivers with some peculiar habits.

“(One person), she was on a phone at a red light, set it down and picked up another one out of her purse, and picked up another one out of her purse. To me it just seemed like a clown car, just coming out of the purse like Marry Poppins, just pulling things out of her purse over and over again,” he said.

In moments like that, “a lot of things go through your head, but you’ve just got to bite your tongue, give them their ticket and walk back to your car.”