We moved to Sooke around five years ago. We bought a house on West Coast Road just by John Muir School. We have three young kids and were thrilled to live so close to a school. We thought living in a school zone would offer some protection on the road.
Two weeks after we moved in, we returned home to fire trucks and an ambulance at our door step after a pedestrian was hit crossing from the school. Countless accidents have happened since up and down West Coast Road. Our cat has been run over, our neighbours dog hit. This morning I was looking out my office window and watched a truck collide with a motorbike while kids played metres away at recess. More fire trucks, police and ambulance. This all plays out in front of a school!
Many cars and trucks barrel up and down West Coast Road not slowing down in the school zone. Why is it other communities have a 30km limit in school zones all the time? Here in Sooke we say: “40km when kids are on the highway.” How can you see if kids are on the highway if you are flying around a corner at 75 km/hour?
We need to reduce speed limits in our school zones and enforce them day and night. When school is out, there’s often kids playing at the schools, in the playgrounds and sport fields. Asking drivers to “watch for kids on the highway” as they speed through a school zone is simply not good enough.
As a parent, I’m horrified by our roads in Sooke and often the drivers that are on them. Please let’s do something to protect our school zones, and the children that use them.
Jason Morehouse
Sooke