School zones are stupid
Whaaaat?!! Before you hit the comment button to send me a negative comment, let me explain. I think they serve a great purpose to keep kids safe going to school, but for me whenever I approach one I am always so concerned about not going over 20 mph that I constantly look down at the speedometer instead of looking out for kids crossing the street or a crossing guard, etc. This kind of defeats the purpose doesn't it? How about you? But I guess I would still have time to react since I am only going as fast as a turtle crawling through a vat of molasses (I just made that up, not bad huh?). And it doesn’t seem fair that you can get a ticket if you turn in to the middle of a school zone and don’t realize you are in one until you speed up to a blazing 35 and the cop waiting for you at the end screeches a U-turn to get you (which doesn’t seem too safe for those kids either). And what if you go past the school zone sign and it is not blinking, but while you are in the middle it starts to blink? You know the officer won’t believe you if you say I swear it wasn’t blinking when I went past it. On a related note I saw this on another blog site and thought it was funny: “Do I know why you pulled me over officer? Well, I guess it depends on how long you were following me.”
posted by whaaaat! at
7:54 AM
10 Comments:
I definitely think you are supposed to stop for pedestrians in the cross walks too. It was interesting to me when we moved here that people here recognize that the pedestrian has the right of way compared to in TX where you cross at your own risk. Here, peds cross without hardly looking esp. in front of a store. There was a local news story recently about the danger for peds who cross a busy street in our town and how the police were handing out tickets to those just like you mentioned who ignored the crosswalk.
By
whaaaat!, at 9:50 AM
I drive through a school zone as cars whip past me, every day and I find myself wishing there was a policeman there.
He'd generate a ton of money for the city, taxes could be lowered, I could invest more, I'd retire early.
So well policed school zones are my hope for a comfortable retirement.
By
Danny Sims, at 12:06 PM
Yup, stopping for pedestrians in cross walks would be the proper thing to do.
My favorite is London - they take the mystery out of how to cross the street. (Sorry about getting off topic..) Right on the street it will have "look left" or "look right".
http://www.professional-lurker.com/pictures/2004/08/look_left.jpg
By
Fred, at 1:34 PM
I've only got one ticket in my entire driving career (okay, two...) and it was for driving too fast in a school zone. BUT it was 7:00 in the morning in JULY and there was NO SCHOOL. I think that officer should have been patroling somewhere else that day.
By
Bar L., at 8:37 PM
On each end of a school zone about four miles from our house, for the longest time, had two signs stating the speed limit. The problem was that the signs had different times the speed limit was in effect. The city finally figured out the problem a couple months ago. I could have easily gotten a ticket in that school zone at any time.
Bill
By
Bill & Glory, at 2:35 PM
whaaaat! wrote in "School zones are stupid":
• whenever I approach one I am always so concerned about
• not going over 20 mph that I constantly look down at
• the speedometer instead of looking out for kids
School zones are not nearly as stupid as some of the people who are too incompetent to drive safely through them.
By
Anonymous, at 5:58 PM
Agreed - school zones give kids a false expectation of safety.
By
Anonymous, at 1:27 PM
Having been in court when a woman was in the middle of a school zone when the lights came on, I can tell you that she was found guilty and had to pay the ticket.
The writing in London is because there are so many visitors from countries which drive on the opposite side of the road. They look the wrong way, see the road is clear, step out then bam from the other direction.
By
Anonymous, at 11:32 AM
One problem with school zones where I live is the times they are enforced. They start blinking an hour and a half before school is even let out. All the kids are still inside the school! I drive through 2 everyday and have yet to see a kid anywhere. They also stop blinking only 30 minutes after school is over which is when most of the kids actually are outside and leaving. All school zones are really for is for writing tickets.
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Uranidiot, at 12:19 PM
Kids are picked up inside the school property. Kids that run outside the property and into the road should be thinned from the herd. Let's create a stronger human population and do away with school zones. Crazy idea - spend some time with your own kid and stop encouraging them to act like savages that ignore boundaries and rules.
By
Anonymous, at 2:53 AM
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