Winston-Salem police have issued 92 traffic citations, mostly for speeding, in school zones since classes began Aug. 25.
Police Chief Scott Cunningham discussed the citations at a news conference yesterday.
"These are our children who are at risk," Cunningham said.
In particular, police focused on drivers in the zones of Old Town and Speas elementary schools, and Carver, Mount Tabor and Reagan high schools, said Sgt. Keith Redmon, who works in the traffic-enforcement unit. The department received complaints about speeding in those areas, he said.
Redmon said he believes that 92 citations is a high number, but no statistics were available for how many citations were issued in the same period last year.
There have been no wrecks or injuries nears schools, police said.
The speed limit in school zones is 25 mph, Redmon said. Most drivers who were cited were traveling about 40 mph.
Any traffic violation in a school zone is serious, Redmon said.
School-bus drivers are trained to get the license-plate numbers of vehicles whose drivers who commit violations in school zones, Redmon said. Officers investigate these cases, and occasionally that has led to citations, he said.
"We can't follow every school bus," he said.
Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools has 371 school buses on the roads daily, traveling to 81 schools, which serve 52,000 children.
Cunningham said he followed buses himself on the first day of school in the neighborhoods off Yadkinville, Reynolda and Robinhood roads, as well as on Cherry and 20th streets and in the Mount Tabor neighborhood.
No violations occurred.
"All of the children were safe," he said.
jhinton@wsjournal.com
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