With the school year beginning, drivers need to keep an eye out around schools.
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The 40km/h school zones are active from this week, and the state government is urging people to slow down.
Roads within a school zone that have an original speed limit of less than 80km/h reduced to 40km/h while roads with an original posted speed limit of 80km/h will be reduced to 60 km/h.
READ MORE: School zone speeder cops huge fine
The reduced speed limits will apply, in most cases, from 8am to 9.30am and 2.30pm to 4pm on weekdays during the Victorian school terms, with the exception of public holidays.
At Napoleons Primary School, flashing school zone signs have helped improve safety since they were installed in 2017.
The state government is extending the $5 million School Area Safety fund, building 39 more signs across the state, including at Dana Street Primary School in Ballarat, Cuthbert Street outside Alfredton Primary School and St Thomas More Primary School, on Forest Street outside Ballarat Grammar School, and in Gordon.
Napoleons principal Trevor Edwards said he’d seen four log truck rollovers outside the school in his time there.
“We had issues with the traffic, it was something we were really challenged with in regard to young children at the school,” he said.
“To have this safety measure in place is really critical to ensure the log trucks, and roads, are much safer and supportive of young people.
“Every principal in the state would be certainly aware of the fact that road safety is a major consideration and to have this support here is really important.”
State Roads Minister Jaala Pulford encouraged children to walk to school when they were old enough, and said schooltime speed limits will be enforced.
“We also want parents to be safe road users when they’re in and around school environments, and of course everyone else as well.
“There’s lots of people around, the roads have been a bit quieter in the last month and a bit while school’s been out, but those peak periods around school drop off and pick up time are going to be back in full swing.”
Police are taking a zero-tolerance approach towards anyone caught exceeding the speed limit or doing the wrong thing on roads near schools.
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