Traffic engineer Graeme Shoobridge, who led the introduction of school zones in the ACT in the 1980s, said the ACT government should investigate whether the current system was still fit for purpose.

"If we take more than we need [from drivers], we may diminish the impact of what we do need. And I believe that's the case with all-day school zones," Mr Shoobridge said.

Mr Shoobridge, who in the 1980s recommended zones operate in peak times only, said all-day school zones were less effective at curbing dangerous driving behaviour when it was most needed.

"It would be far better for the reduced speed limit for school zones to be focused to the primary arrival and departure times for that school," Mr Shoobridge said.

"Because when you drive past a school in a vehicle in the middle of the day and there are no kids around and there's very little traffic around, I think it's easy to understand some motorists won't even notice the school zone start and finish, or won't appreciate that there is a school zone still operating at those times.

Mr Shoobridge said school-zone signs with flashing lights and other indicators to show when zones were in operation could be centrally operated, avoiding problems with the current folding signs which are supposed to be locked up during school holidays.

"It's never too late to align ourselves to a superior system. I believe it would be superior," he told the Sunday Canberra Times.

ACT school zones - which require drivers to slow to 40km/h near schools between 8am and 4pm on school days - are unique in Australia. In other states, zone limits are only active around the beginning and end of the school day.

Mr Shoobridge said after 35 years, the system was due for a comprehensive review to consider whether the areas covered, the times of operation and the 40km/h speed limit were still fit for purpose.

"I would say, yes, we should revert to the way it's shown in the Australian standard, which is very similar to the way NSW runs, and I think that's probably an opportunity to reduce confusion for motorists who may be exposed to both systems," he said.

With 40km/h area speed zones now enforced in Canberra's town centres, there was also scope to consider slower limits around schools, Mr Shoobridge said.

"Do schools deserve better than that, if adults need 40km/h? I expect they'll leave it at 40km/h, but I know that Canberra needs to reduce it from all day to part time," he said.

An ACT government spokesman said there were no plans to review the school zone system.

"While the highest level of pedestrian activity occurs during drop-off and pick-up times, children may be near the school zone at lunch time, for excursions or for a variety of reasons," the spokesman said.

"The continuous operation of school zone speed limits throughout the day minimises confusion for drivers, and provides better safety for children during the school day."

The spokesman said Transport Minister Chris Steel considered the ACT system to be the simplest.

"The road rules in the ACT about speed limits in school zones are based on the Australian Road Rules which provide that the speed limit applying to the driver in a school zone is that indicated on the school zone sign. ACT school zones are all clearly marked with 40km/h signs," the spokesman said.

More than 9900 people were caught speeding in 40km/h school zones in 2020, up from 7543 in 2019. Police issued 330 speeding tickets to people caught in school zones last year.

Drivers caught speeding in school zones made up more than a third of offences recorded by mobile speed camera vans between May and July last year.

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Earlier this month, St Edmund's College principal Joe Zavone called for school zones operating in peak times on Canberra Avenue to reduce the risk to students crossing the busy arterial road.

The ACT government has engaged a consultant to consider pedestrian safety along the road, which students from St Edmund's and St Clare's colleges cross to get to school.

Mr Shoobridge said time variable school zones on Canberra Avenue was a brilliant idea. "It's overdue by many years," he said.

Mr Shoobridge said his team had originally recommended 40km/h school zones in the ACT should operate between 8am and 9.30am, and 2.30pm and 4pm, with Canberra schools on board with the proposal at the time.

"That picked up the band for pretty well all of the schools' primary arrival and departure times," he said.

Prior to the introduction of school zones in September 1985, motorists were required to drive past schools during drop-off and pick-up times at 20km/h, however the rule was difficult to enforce.

But parents lobbied members of the ACT House of Assembly, the body prior to self government which advised the Federal Minister for the Territories on legislation, to vote in favour of eight-hour school zones, rejecting the recommendations of the assembly's education committee.

"We prepared the legislation based on this rejection of the idea of 8am to 4pm because we didn't think that there was sufficient school pedestrian traffic there during those times," Mr Shoobridge said.

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