Be groovy in school zones

“Slow down, you move too fast/You got to make the morning last,” Simon & Garfunkel sang.

Did you remember to slow down this morning? And yesterday morning?

And will you remember to slow down tomorrow morning?

Kids are back in school, school zones are back in place and if you only learn one lesson this school year, let it be: • slow down and be aware. OK, make it two lessons: • Stay off your cellphone, especially in school zones.

While it’s expected that kids on the way to and from school might be distracted, it is not OK for an adult behind the wheel of a potential killing machine.

Distracted drivers killed 30 people last year in Southern B.C.

You don’t need a doctorate in philosophy or rocket science to learn a very simple lesson so that by the end of the year, none of these kids will be a distracted-driver statistic.

ICBC says on average, about 72 children are injured in crashes in school and playground zones.

Considering the number of school kids, these are pretty good odds. But what if it were your child, grandchild, nephew, niece or neighbour who was hit in a school zone? Would you care about the odds then?

What if you were the driver who hit one of those 72 children, would you care about the odds? What if you had been speeding? Or talking on your cellphone? Or both? Does a child have to die before people who speed and text learn not to.

“Education is learning what you didn’t even know you didn’t know,” wrote historian Daniel J. Boorstin.

Some people don’t seem to know that they’re not supposed to speed in school zones or use their phone while driving through school zones — or driving anywhere.

In case you’ve forgotten this lesson from last year, here it is again:

School zone speed limits are 30 km/h from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Yep! 7:30 a.m. not 8 a.m. But be careful before and after those times because many children are at, or on their way to, school before 7:30 a.m. and many, especially those involved in extra-curricular activities, are there after 5 p.m.

According to RCMP Supt. Davis Wendell, E Division Traffic Services:

“Since 2010, police have issued more than 300,000 tickets for electronic device use, which tells us that distracted and inattentive driving continues to be an ongoing issue on B.C. roads.”

Just kicking down the cobblestones/Looking for fun and feeling groovy/Ba da-da da-da da-da, feeling groovy.

You can be groovy when driving through school zones as long as you slow down, don’t move too fast — and stay off the phone.

Slow down, be aware and stay off the cellphone