Back to school ticket blitz sees close to 150 per cent more infractions than last year

Taylor Clark

Gatineau Police is reminding the public to stop for school buses and respect signage in school zones after issuing over 200 tickets in the first two weeks of the 2024-2025 school year.

“Children are vulnerable road users and motorists have a duty to take measures to ensure their safety. This includes respecting speed limits in school zones,” read the news release.

For close to two weeks, police officers and officers from the parking division carried out 79 intensive operations in school zones across Gatineau aimed at improving road safety. The operations led to 236 tickets being issued, signifying a 148 per cent increase from the same time last year.

Among the over 200 tickets, 146 were for speeding in school zones and six were for failing to comply with school bus flashing lights. These tickets were issued in less than nine school days. During the entire 2023-2024 school year, police issued 33 tickets for failure to comply with school bus flashing lights. The six tickets issued in less than two weeks of this school year amount to about 18 per cent of the total number of tickets issued last year.

Drivers and cyclists are required to stop more than five metres from a school bus or minibus that has its red lights flashing or the stop sign activated. Failure to do so could result in an $80 to $100 fine for cyclists, and for vehicle drivers, a fine of $200 to $300 and nine demerit points. This rule does not apply, however, if there is a traffic median between the bus lane and the lane used by the cyclists and vehicle drivers.