Niagara police crack down on traffic violations in Fort Erie school zones

Police were out in full force Tuesday as students returned to school.

Community Safety Zones, stretches of roadways near schools, are often targeted by police throughout the region on the first day of classes, an effort the Niagara Regional Police Service (NRPS) calls All Hands on Deck.

This initiative, in its 24th year, sees senior officers and members of specialty units who are not regularly assigned to uniform patrol duties donning their uniforms and joining forces with general patrol officers to enhance traffic safety around local school zones.

This year, an additional 50 officers are expected to take to the streets as part of this important campaign, said the NRPS in a news release.

Community safety zones are designed to encourage safer driving behavior in areas where public safety is of heightened concern, police said.

Within these zones, fines for traffic violations are increased, with speeding fines being doubled. While the rules of the road remain the same, the penalties for violations within these zones are significantly harsher.

There are two community safety zones in Fort Erie, one on Garrison Road between Rosehill and Spears roads.

Another is located on Central Avenue between Gilmore Road and Bertie Street.

At this location, a speed camera installed by Niagara Region is in operation for a second time. It was previously there for about three months starting on January 1 and was re-installed in July and will be catching speeding motorists in the 40km/h zone until the end of the year.

With the return of classes, school buses will also be back on the roads.

Over 100 buses in the Niagara area are equipped with video cameras to capture evidence of drivers who fail to stop for loading school buses. If an infraction is captured on video, the evidence is sent to police, and if grounds for a charge exist, an offence notice is mailed to the vehicle owner’s last known address.

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