The Town of Hay River is concerned about motorists speeding and using cell phones while driving through the community's school zones.

"We're putting an awful lot of attention to the school zones right now," Ross Potter, the town's director of protective services, told the Jan. 11 online meeting of town council. "I find it really quite unbelievable the number of people that are using cell phones and speeding through the school zones."

Potter noted that earlier on Jan. 11 the town's bylaw officer had ticketed a driver doing 68 kph in a school zone, where the speed limit in 30 kph.

Such a high speed is "totally ridiculous," he said. "Nobody should be in that big of a hurry and, if they are, they should be starting their day a little bit earlier maybe. So we're going to continue focusing on the school zones."

Potter noted there are also concerns about some drivers passing school buses when they're offloading students, which he described as a really scary situation.

The concerns about high speeds and distracted driving were detailed in the emergency services report for December from Travis Rosborough, the town's protective services specialist, also known as the bylaw officer.

"Distracted driving continues to be a significant issue in Hay River," he wrote in the report, which was presented at the Jan. 11 meeting of council.

Rosborough stated that most of those caught using electronic devices while driving are not youth or young adults, but have been people in their mid-40s to mid-60s.

And he noted that one individual has been caught on a cell phone three times while driving.

Aside from the school zones, Rosborough said there are continuous reports of vehicles speeding along Mackenzie Highway as they enter the 40 kph zone just south of Porritt Landing to 104^th Street.

Signs have been posted by companies in that area to notify drivers that workers are present and to slow down, he wrote. "Residents in 104^th Street have also made complaints of speeding in the residential zone where kids are at play."

During the Jan. 11 meeting, Coun. Linda Duford noted that earlier that day she was almost hit by a vehicle as she was walking on the crosswalk in front of NWT Centennial Library.

The driver of the vehicle was on a cell phone and failed to stop for her, she said. "And I actually had to turn around and run, and I just barely missed getting hit."
Duford said she was shook up and didn't get the licence plate number on the vehicle.

"It's scary when that happens," she said of nearly being hit. "You see someone come along and they have no idea that there's someone crossing the road."