With 183 speeding tickets handed out in Prince George during the first nine days of school, it's clear that a significant number of drivers feel that the rules of the road don't apply to them.
Perhaps the penalties need to be tougher. Six drivers had their vehicles impounded for a week - one of those drivers was travelling at 84 km/h in the school zone near Pineview elementary, nearly triple the legal maximum speed limit. Maybe if more drivers were left at the side of the road, they'd smarten up behind the wheel.
Tougher isn't necessarily better, however. Maybe the penalties for speeding need to be more creative and the drivers need to be held more accountable. A restorative justice approach applied for speeding through a school zone could work wonders.
Currently, driving through a school zone at 50 km/h or less comes with a $196 fine. The fines go up to $253 for up to 70 km/h, $368 for up to 90 km/h and $483 for more than 90 km/h. Regardless of the speed, drivers also get slapped with three demerit points.
These penalties make no connection between the infraction and the potential victims. From the perspective of drivers, they're the victims, snared in an entrapment by overzealous police officers who should be out catching real criminals, not collecting money from law-abiding citizens whose only crime is a heavy foot.
Under restorative justice, however, drivers caught speeding through a school zone would come face to face with the potential victims of their crime.
Imagine if drivers caught speeding through a school zone couldn't leave until they walked down the street, went into the school and apologized to the principal for putting students at risk with their reckless driving. The principal would have to sign off that the apology was satisfactorily delivered before the driver could leave the scene.
Imagine if drivers travelling more than 50 km/h in a school zone not only had to apologize to the principal but also had to sit through a short video in the principal's office, which explained the increased time and distance it takes to stop when speeding and featured real children hurt by speeding drivers.
Imagine if drivers going more than 70 km/h in a school zone not only had to apologize to the principal and watch the video, they also had to apologize to the students at a school assembly.
Imagine if drivers exceeding 90 km/h in a school zone not only had to watch the video, apologize to the principal and the students but also had to send a written apology to the parents of the students.
None of these punishments come with a personal or financial hardship. The violators would not lose their vehicle or their driver's license. Yet they sound severe because they require action and accountability on the part of the offending driver.
The funny thing is if drivers were given the choice between the fines and the demerit points or having to go into the school and apologize, it's likely most drivers would rather pay up than make an embarrassing apology.
That's precisely why ICBC, working with the RCMP, should do it.
Some people might think that using restorative justice on drivers speeding through school zones is excessive, that the public shaming and personal humiliation are punishments that exceed the crime.
They are wrong.
Responsible adults apologize multiple times each day, to loved ones and perfect strangers, for transgressions large and small, from leaving the toilet seat up to backing into someone's car in a parking lot. Those apologies are verbal, direct and often meaningful to both parties. It's important for victims to be acknowledged and it's important for wrongdoers to realize people have been victimized by their actions and to face those individuals.
That's why restorative justice is such an effective tool.
In the case of speeders through school zones, the learning moment would extend to students. Children find it especially meaningful when an adult apologizes to them in person for committing a wrong. The lesson for the kids - as pedestrians walking to and from school and as future drivers - is that speeding through a school zone is a serious crime that puts their safety at risk.
Fines and demerit points seem to be having little affect on driver behaviour.
Having to say sorry might work much better.
