Two speed-limit questions show up on the knowledge test and keep confusing drivers for years afterwards. What's the limit when nothing is posted? And why are school zones and playground zones both 30 km/h but active at completely different times? School zones apply in three windows, on school days only. Playground zones apply every day from 8:30 am until one hour after sunset. Mixing those up is how careful drivers get tickets in July.
By Mark Goh · Last reviewed: · Fact-checked against alberta.ca · Not affiliated with the Government of Alberta.
| School zone | 30 km/h unless otherwise posted, 8:00–9:30 am, 11:30 am–1:30 pm and 3:00–4:30 pm, on school days |
|---|---|
| Playground zone | 30 km/h unless otherwise posted, every day from 8:30 am until 1 hour after sunset |
| Passing in either zone | Prohibited while the zone is in effect |
| Municipal variation | Hours may differ by bylaw; different times are posted beneath the sign |
| Slow down and move over | Move to the far lane, or slow to at least 60 km/h or the posted limit, whichever is lower |
| Doubled fines | Speeding fines double where construction workers or a stopped roadside vehicle with flashing lights are present |
When nothing is posted
Alberta has default limits for roads with no sign, and they answer a knowledge-test question that comes up a lot. On a main highway outside a city, town or village the basic limit is 100 km/h unless otherwise posted. Inside an urban area the default is 50 km/h unless otherwise posted. Some divided highways are posted at 110, but a posted limit is a posted limit. You'll see the sign.
"Unless otherwise posted" is doing a lot of work in both sentences. A sign always wins, and residential streets posted at 30 or 40 are common in Alberta municipalities that lowered their default. On an unfamiliar road, the sign is the only thing you can rely on.
School zones: three windows, school days only
A school zone is 30 km/h unless otherwise posted, in effect at three times of day:
- 8:00 am to 9:30 am
- 11:30 am to 1:30 pm
- 3:00 pm to 4:30 pm
Arrival, lunch, dismissal. And they apply on school days only. Outside those windows, and on days the school isn't in session, the road's ordinary posted limit applies.
A second rule rides along with the zone and gets forgotten: you may not pass, or try to pass, another vehicle going the same direction inside a school zone while it's in effect. Even if the car ahead is well under the limit.
Playground zones: every day, until an hour after sunset
A playground zone is also 30 km/h unless otherwise posted. The hours are nothing like a school zone's: every day from 8:30 am until one hour after sunset.
Three things fall out of that, and they catch experienced drivers too. It applies on weekends. It applies through summer. And because it ends an hour after sunset instead of at a clock time, the end of the zone moves through the year. In an Alberta June that's close to 11:00 pm. In December it's mid-afternoon.
The most avoidable ticket a new driver gets is this one. Someone who has learned "30 in the zone during school hours" will do 50 through a playground zone on a Saturday afternoon in July, sure they're complying. The signs look alike. The limit is identical. The hours have nothing in common.
The passing ban applies here too: no passing another vehicle travelling the same direction inside a playground zone while the speed restriction is in effect.
Municipal variation, and how you know
Alberta's stated hours are the provincial default, and municipalities can set different times by bylaw. When they do, the different times are posted beneath the sign.
Which gives you a habit instead of a memory test. See a school or playground zone sign, look at the plate under it. If there's a plate, it governs. If there isn't, provincial hours apply. It matters most if you move between Calgary, Edmonton and smaller centres, where the conventions really do differ.
Construction zones and doubled fines
Alberta doubles speeding fines in two situations, and the second is broader than most drivers think. Fines double when construction workers are present, and when any stopped roadside vehicle has its flashing lights on.
The first is about workers, not cones. An empty coned-off stretch of highway on a Sunday is still a construction zone with a posted limit you have to obey, but the doubling turns on workers being there.
The second has nothing to do with construction. A police car with lights on at a traffic stop, an ambulance at a collision, a tow truck loading a car, a maintenance truck on the shoulder: all of them trigger it. Doubled-fine territory gets expensive fast. Alberta's published bands run from about $211 to $328 for 1 to 15 km/h over, $381 to $648 for 16 to 30 over, and $686 to $1,200 for 31 to 50 over.
At 51 km/h or more over, you're in court. Mandatory appearance, fine at the court's discretion, no set ticket amount to plan around.
Slow down and move over
On top of the doubled fine, Alberta imposes a positive duty when you approach a stopped roadside vehicle with flashing lights: police, ambulance, fire, tow trucks, maintenance vehicles. In the lane nearest it you must move over to the far lane to give workers room, or, if you can't do that safely, slow to at least 60 km/h, or the posted speed limit, whichever is lower.
Miss it and it's a $243 fine and 3 demerit points, plus a speed fine. For a GDL driver living under an 8-point ceiling, that's a big chunk of the allowance for one lapse on a highway shoulder.
"Whichever is lower" matters. On a road posted at 50, slowing to 60 isn't compliance. You slow to 50 or under. On a 110 highway, 60 is the number.
Speeding fines and points
Alberta publishes a fine schedule that scales with the excess, from about $105 at 1 km/h over to $744 at 50 km/h over, with visible steps at 16 and 40 over. What that table doesn't include is demerit points. Those are set separately by regulation and rise in bands as the excess grows.
Know both halves, because they hurt differently. A modest speeding fine is money. The points are what collide with the 8-point GDL ceiling and with the clean-record rule for leaving GDL, and those consequences outlast the fine by years.
Driving too slowly is also an offence
Alberta's rules of the road prohibit driving at a speed that unreasonably impedes the normal flow of traffic. It's enforced far less than speeding, but it's real, and it's the legal basis for the advice that on a divided highway you keep right unless you're passing. A driver sitting in the left lane at 90 on a 110 highway is creating exactly the overtaking pressure the rule exists to prevent.
The habits that keep you out of all of this
- Assume 30 in any zone until you've read the plate under the sign. Being wrong that way costs nothing. Being wrong the other way costs a fine and points.
- Treat playground zones as all-day, all-year. The sunset rule means the end time isn't something you memorise once.
- Lift off the moment you see flashing lights on a shoulder, then work out whether you can change lanes. The duty applies whether or not the lane is officially closed.
- Don't pass in a school or playground zone while it's in effect, even at a legal speed.
All four show up in the knowledge-test pool in some form. Check yourself on them with the free 30-question practice test.
About This Guide
Written and edited by Mark Goh, editor of Alberta Class 7 Practice Test. It exists because the school-versus-playground hours mix-up is the most avoidable ticket a new Alberta driver gets, and because Alberta publishes speeding fines but not demerit values on the same page.
Fact-checked against the Government of Alberta pages listed below. Fines, demerit values and fees change. Some amounts (registry service charges, for one) aren't set by the province at all; each registry agent sets its own within a published cap. Where that's the case, the text says so instead of quoting one number as if it applied everywhere.
Sources for this guide:
- School and playground zones — alberta.ca
- Fines for speeding — alberta.ca
- Roadside worker safety — alberta.ca
- Use of Highway and Rules of the Road Regulation, Alta Reg 304/2002
- Alberta driver's guides — alberta.ca
Independence. It's a free study aid. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or operated on behalf of the Government of Alberta. If this guide and an official Alberta page disagree, the official page is right. Tell us and we'll fix it.
Related Reading
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the speed limit in a school zone in Alberta?
30 km/h unless otherwise posted. The limit applies from 8:00 am to 9:30 am, 11:30 am to 1:30 pm and 3:00 pm to 4:30 pm, on school days only. Municipalities can set different hours by bylaw, and if they do, the times are posted beneath the sign.
Are school zones and playground zones the same in Alberta?
Same 30 km/h limit, different hours. Playground zones are in effect every day from 8:30 am until one hour after sunset, weekends and summer included. School zones apply only on school days, during three set windows.
When are speeding fines doubled in Alberta?
When construction workers are present, or when any stopped roadside vehicle has its flashing lights on. Failing to slow down and move over for such a vehicle also carries a $243 fine and 3 demerit points on top of any speeding fine.