A recent release from SGI showed almost five thousand speeding tickets had been handed out in September, 195 of which had been handed out in school zones - representing a decreasing trend compared to the last few years.

They chalk that up to proper driver's education, reminding drivers to slow down at school zones through the media, and adding cameras to some troublesome zones.

SGI Communications Consultant Jeremy Pilon says that the change has been as drastic as hundreds of tickets fewer.

"What we're seeing is those numbers are actually coming down. For the past three years in September, our numbers were over six thousand per year, and even just in school zones we were seeing well over 600 tickets in the month of September in 2020 and 2021, so we're really happy to see those numbers have come down quite a bit."

The actual cause of the drop in tickets isn't known, but Pilon says there are a few factors that could play into that.

"We typically actually see a drop in speeding tickets in September compared to the summer months, so we hope that means drivers are aware that students are back to school and it's time to slow down and keep them safe, but it could also be that people are returning to their normal driving habits after summer vacation."

Those zones also have mechanical help, with new photo enforcement methods coming back with provably helpful results.

"Another thing that we do is support the photo speed enforcement program, which was done in 2015 and the data we gathered from that program showed that drivers are slowing down in areas recorded by photo speed enforcement," said Pilon, "Our initial pilot showed that school zones that were protected by photo speed enforcement saw seven fewer collisions per year and we estimate about 10 fewer injuries per year."

Whatever the cause, Pilon says that it's been working and he hopes more people recognize the danger of speeding and slow down.

"We do notice that decrease in collision in school zones over the last couple of years, and we've also seen a significant drop in speeding numbers as well, so we're hoping that part of that is photo speed enforcement, but also people being aware that speed can be dangerous and they just need to slow down."