School zones extended by one hour (Howe: middle schools, living, safety)

[ashbeeigh]

Shoot.Even without extracurricular activities I remember says when the wouldn't even leave campus until 420pm...getting home by 5 was a luxury and I lived about 2.5 miles away from school. It only makes sense.

[SabresFanInSA]

I like the idea of case by case. I pick up my daughter from school at 2:45 By 3pm that place is a ghost town. Really no need to have the zone times any longer than they are.

To be honest, the morning ones are the ones I would change. If a school starts at 7:45, why is the zone still active at 9? For elementary school. I'd make it 6am-8am, instead of 7am-9am. For middle school make it match their time (they start later, right?) and so on.

[Chaka]

What a weird thing to complain about - going slow in front of schools.

Really. The zones I've been in, both our own in the inner city and a number in the suburbs, are rarely more than a few blocks. Slowing down is just smart. You shouldn't be driving so fast that slowing down a few mph should make that big of a difference in fuel efficiency. What kind of car do you drive? If it's fuel efficient to begin with (which is apparently very important to the OP), then that little change in mph would be a non-issue.

I hardly think it has anything to do with the oil lobby and everything to do with the safety lobby.

[IntentionallyBlank]

Originally Posted by Me007gold

How? a person has the manually turn the lights on and off, so if the lights are flashing you slow down, if they arnt you dont

We don't have warning lights, just signs. It would be nice to have the lights at every school zone, and maybe then we could set the times on a zone by zone basis, but I'm guessing it's cost prohibitive.

[TexasRedneck]

Originally Posted by majormadmax

A mile?!? Maybe up in the sticks where you live, but down in San Antonio proper they're more like a few blocks at the most!

I was giving an extreme example, so that someone couldn't come back and say "it's .xyz miles here". Besides - it kinda put it into perspective in terms of the actual time "lost". Believe me - I hate school zones as much (or, given how much I drive, probably MORE) than the next person - but taken in context, they're not really all THAT time-consuming....just seems like it!

[majormadmax]

Originally Posted by TexasRedneck

I was giving an extreme example, so that someone couldn't come back and say "it's .xyz miles here". Besides - it kinda put it into perspective in terms of the actual time "lost". Believe me - I hate school zones as much (or, given how much I drive, probably MORE) than the next person - but taken in context, they're not really all THAT time-consuming....just seems like it!

Understood, on one of my routes home I hit four school zones, and each are significant decreases over the regularly-posted limit; but if the slower speeds save just one child's life, then it's well worth the minor inconvenience!

[the_dimwit]

For Pete's sake...we are talking SCHOOL zones, not shopping malls. I would think that we'd all agree that slowing down around schools is a good idea. If there is even ONE kid who stays late (for whatever reason) and then leaves school between 3-5pm, wouldn't that justify drivers slowing down in the name of caution??

I think we could all afford the spare dollar or two the extension COULD cost us in gas. If you can't, PM me and I'll send you a benjamin to cover the entire year. Cool?

--Dim (father of two elementary-aged girls)

[Hedgehog_Mom]

My kids get out at 2:45 and the school looks deserted by 3. There are after-school activities and tutoring programs that get out later though. I think the change makes sense, at least at our school, which is in the middle of the neighborhood so you're only going from 30mph down to 20.

The school down the road doesn't start until 8:30 am. I think it's really odd that their school zone is from 7 am to 9 am, I wonder if theirs will be changing too.

[badhornet]

I always thought 230 to 430 was better......I guess they rather have it on the hour

[Me007gold]

Originally Posted by IntentionallyBlank

We don't have warning lights, just signs. It would be nice to have the lights at every school zone, and maybe then we could set the times on a zone by zone basis, but I'm guessing it's cost prohibitive.

Then just have the time listed on the signs, the other issue I have with school zones, is some are 25mph and some are 20.