'Take a breath': Back to school brings renewed focus on Calgary traffic safety

As thousands of Calgary students hit the street for back to school this week, the Calgary Board of Education (CBE) is urging all drivers to slow down and stay alert.

With a projected 143,000 students for the school year, roughly 1,000 more than at the end of last year’s school season, CBE is partnering with the Alberta Motor Association (AMA) and Calgary Police Services (CPS) to ensure parents and students alike are properly educated on traffic safety.

At a back-to-school safety event at Ranchlands Elementary School Monday morning, CBE Chief Superintendent Joanne Pitman said traffic safety is a collective effort that must be taken seriously city-wide.

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“ We know families are busy, we know people are trying to work on a school day. We need people to take a breath, take a moment and say, ‘what do I want for my child or somebody else’s?’” she said. “Let’s make sure we’re making good choices.”

The push for further public awareness comes after the City of Calgary made traffic-safety improvements near 50 schools in the city, as the city’s fatal collisions stay on track to surpass 2025’s record year.

Mark Novello, CPS school resource officer and youth services sergeant, said speeding and distracted driving remain top concerns, while urging parents to not double-park or stop in intersections where pedestrians and drivers may have limited visibility.

“ I know over the next couple weeks, we’ll have a lot of police officers in school zones or playground zones. My team specifically will be out at a lot of the elementary schools working on traffic education, just more for the parents,” Novello said, but added that road safety for children will also be a priority.

“(If) kids are running across the street, I want the police officers to stop them and talk to them about how unsafe that is,” he said

AMA is also expanding its school zone safety programs, adding adult crossing guides and drive-lane patrols to support students getting off buses. The organization has more than 13,000 student patrollers at more than 400 school across Alberta.

“ We should all make sure that we’re all being careful because traffic safety can be very dangerous,” said Anika, a student patroller in sixth grade.