Careful, drivers, these kids are watching your every move

Armed with a radar gun and their own keen eyes, students at an Ottawa elementary school got a street-level look at speeding and distracted drivinglast week.

The Grade5 and 6 class at St. Cecilia School in Barrhavenwas participating in a course offered by the Ottawa Safety Council that included a 45-minute session observing traffic in front of their school on Cambrian Road.

The course wants tocreate awareness about the dangers posed by drivers who don't follow the rules and there was no shortage of examples for the students.

"A lot of people were calling and texting each other,"said Samantha Lo as she glanced at her data table. "It's not safe for that to happen because if you get distracted an accident can happen."

Using a radar gun about the size of a hair dryer, students Tony Velasquez and Addison Shaw caught one driver travelling 62 km/h in front of the school where the posted limit is 40 km/h during school hours.

"It's weird, they shouldn't be going that fast," said Velasquez.

"It's pretty sad to be honest because it's sort of a law that you can't go over the limit," added Shaw.

Their classmateYufeiJiangreported that not only were most of the drivers she tracked travelling above the speed limit, many were also driving distracted.

"One person was holding the phone in one hand talkingand the other hand was on the steering wheel driving."

Raising awareness

The radar gun and accompanying data collection tutorial is part of the council's Walk Safe course offered inschools.

InstructorCindy Embury-Mulhern, who also works as a crossing guard,has been teaching the course for seven years.

They get pretty excited sometimes and they yell at the drivers so we have to remind them to keep it down.- Cindy Embury-Mulhern, Walk Safe instructor

"They actually get to see the problemin real timeand I think it impacts them more," she said.

"They become more aware when they're crossing the road, or maybe in a few years when they're behind the wheel of a car."

Embury-Mulhern saidthe most frequent infractions by far aredrivers failing to stop at stop signsor doing a rolling stopat red lights to make right turns, which the students are quick to point out.

"They get pretty excited sometimes and they yell at the drivers so we have to remind them to keep it down,let the drivers do their thing, and simply observe."

TeacherMaya Tomczaksays she was surprised by the students' observations since the city recently installed a speed camerain front of the school.

She added that the course helps the children improve their street smarts.

"We teach our kids a lot of safetyinside the school and in the yard, but we never really have the opportunity to be out here by the road looking around and being more aware of our surroundings," she said.

Drew Howell, one of Tomczak's students, saidthe course has encouraged him to be sure he doesn't one day become a distracted driver.

"People should wait tocall people," he said. "We should stop looking at our phones while driving."

Ottawa Morning6:47Ottawa students hit the street with a radar gun

As part of a course offered by the Ottawa Safety Council, Grade 5 and 6 students at St. Cecilia School in Barrhaven watch for speeders and distracted drivers in front of their school.