Caution urged as school zones return

Lake Mac motorists have been urged to take care around schools as school zones come back into force from Tuesday 27 January.

Lake Macquarie City Council Manager Environmental Regulation and Compliance Wes Hain said that while most students wouldn’t return to school until the end of the week or the following Monday, 27 January signalled the official start of the school calendar.

“We have 89 schools across our city, and most of those share the same school zone times: 8-9.30am and 2.30-4pm on weekdays,” he said. 

“Drivers are reminded to check signage for relevant school zone times around each school.”

A 40kmh speed limit also applies during school zone hours.

“Safety is our number one priority for parents, students and other road users,” Mr Hain said.

“But it’s also about encouraging respectful behaviour that makes everyone’s lives a little less stressful and difficult.”

Council rangers will be patrolling school zones from 27 January as part of the ‘Park Safe, Stay Safe’ program aimed at ensuring the safety of parents, students and other road users via compliance with parking rules around schools.

They include ‘kiss-and-ride’ zones, no parking zones, no stopping zones and bus zones.

“Parents can drop off and pick up their children in a no parking zone, provided they don’t park in the space for more than two minutes, and provided they stay in their car or no more than 3m from it,” Mr Hain said.

“However, drivers can’t stop to drop off or pick up passengers, even briefly, in a no stopping zone or bus zone.”

Parking offences attract higher fines and greater demerit point deductions in NSW when the driver is caught in a school zone.

Motorists stopping in a school zone’s no stopping or bus zone face a $423 fine and loss of two demerit points.

Go to lakemac.com.au for more information about school zone parking rules.