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School Zone tickets are the biggest scam nationwide. We can say its to protect kids in the area and I do agree to this to an extent, but every single time I see cops out, I dont see any kids in the area. What easier way to make easy money than to post up 30-45mins after school began or 30 mins after school gets out in the evening and the kids are long gone.
I live directly in front of a school zone and the street is 2 lanes each way and 45mph, but atleast the school lights are flashing and say 30mph, but they still get people all day long going 15mph over the limit. But I have never once seen police actively clocking people while school was actively getting started or getting out and kids were going to or leaving the school. This is when they are most needed and never there.
I was driving in a "school zone" at 4:28 PM. I was going the speed of traffic, I was going on a major street in my city, there was no "pedestrians" around, and it was, I repeat, 4:28 PM. School was long, long over. But, ok, if the speed limit was 20 and I was going 45, then I would understand getting a ticket, but no, I was going 27 miles per hour at 4:28 PM with no pedestrians on a major road in my city when school was almost 1:30 hours out of session and I get slapped with a speed limit for speeding in a "school zone". From research, apparently, DURING SCHOOL HOURS, going at 26 is a ticket. So, I was one mph above that an hour and a half after school ended, going the speed of traffic. This all makes sense. While my city has one of the highest murder rates in the country, with gangs roaming the city untouched, I am slapped with a ticket for this.
Good job, police department. You "got" me!
Not enough facts.
Is there a flashing Speed Limit sign on that street? Was it flashing at the time you were speeding? Did it report the speed limit being 26?
Is there a double Speed Limit sign that indicates a separate speed for school in vs. school out?
Does the law require a fixed maximum speed in school zones REGARDLESS of time of day?
Based on the limited information provided it sounds as though you made an assumption that speed limits are due to pedestrian safety only. They're not.
In some areas the speed limit in school zones is fixed and has no bearing on whether people are around or not.
In some areas (like mine) the speed limit is higher so long as the sign is not flashing (30 as opposed to 20 when the sign is flashing). The sign will flash between 7am-ish and 10am-ish in the morning, haven't ever seen it flash in the evening but I assume it's 2pm-ish and 5pm-ish.
In the area north of me there is a back road that passes a school. It has a fixed speed limit. Exceeding it, regardless of the fact it's a back road, or that it's a Sunday, or that no pedestrians are in sight, will net you a ticket.
Take it as a lesson: if the signage is not blatantly obvious assume the most restrictive.
Now, if there is a flashing sign condition where it's assumed that the speed limit is higher if the sign is not flashing, and you can get your hands on the time frame, AND the time of the ticket falls outside of that range, you can fight the ticket on those grounds and most likely win. In that case it'd just be a cop that wasn't paying attention, which happens.
In a town not too far from me, there is a sign saying "No Right Turn On Red When Children Are Present".
No, it doesn't make any reference to school hours, and--in fact--this intersection is about 1/2 mile from the nearest school. So, when I get to that intersection, I carefully scan the entire area to see if there are any children visible before I turn.
I have to assume that, if a child was to suddenly appear, I would be liable for a ticket. How strange is this?
In a town not too far from me, there is a sign saying "No Right Turn On Red When Children Are Present".
No, it doesn't make any reference to school hours, and--in fact--this intersection is about 1/2 mile from the nearest school. So, when I get to that intersection, I carefully scan the entire area to see if there are any children visible before I turn.
I have to assume that, if a child was to suddenly appear, I would be liable for a ticket. How strange is this?
The high school / middle school I pass by every day has a sign that gives the school zone speed limit with the same 'when children are present' disclaimer. 25MPH if they are there, but 40MPH when they're not. When I pass by at 4-4:30, there may be one or two stragglers hanging around waiting to be picked up, but I can't imagine that's the situation the sign intends. They're talking about when the school lets out and children are out there en masse, at least I would think. Otherwise any time I see one kid sitting in front of the school I'm supposed to slam on the brakes? Makes no sense.
Actually, I have been pulled over a few times over the 50 years I've been driving. Not once (really!) have I gotten angry at the officer for pulling me over. I've asked what I've done (because I'm pretty sure they're not doing it for their health and that I HAVE done something unintentionally, being human), and been polite and even friendly, and I suspect that has something to do with my getting warnings instead of tickets in most cases. I've even ended up chatting about horses when pulled over doing over the limit because I was excited because my first mare had just had her first foal for me and I was driving to get my daughter to take her out to the stables to see, and wasn't paying attention to my foot getting heavy. There were three things that cop could have ticketed me on, and he cut it down to a ticket on one and warnings on the others (an inspection sticker that had expired a couple of days before when I was on foal watch and didn't notice being one that I got a warning for).
Since I figure anything that I do behind the wheel is my own responsibility, and the police officer is doing me a favor by focusing my attention when I've lost focus on driving, yes, I HAVE been known to thank the officer.
And you can't get around the fact that if 27 is too fast to be able to read the sign that tells you when the lowered speed applies, then it's too fast to be driving through a school zone.
Yeah, I am willing to Bet that if you did in fact get those tickets instead of Warnings that it would been Nothing but All Pleasantries at The Home Barn!
The fact that you Broke the Law and only got Warnings just shows Absolutely No Justice and Fairness with our Legal system and it is a H____ of a Blow who did The Exact same Violation yet was not so Fortunate as you!
The OP was 15 minutes Shy of being in the Legal Speed Limit so just Cut Him some Slack!
If he was doing that at Afternoon Hours there would be No Excuse yet he was 15 minutes shy of 5:00PM, where most Speed Limit School Zones are in fact Off and he obviously believed the same!
I Definitely Do find a bit of problem with the OP's justification that there were no physical Deterrents in his view or way yet I also do not know what he meant by that statement unless I hear from him and his explanation of it.
It is Admirable and GREAT how you stand behind your Law Enforcement and if more people felt this way then there would more then likely be Less Dead Police Officers, yet an officer bending and Excusing the Rules and Law for you and others is Definitely not Fair to the ones They then Decide to Enforce it On!
The high school / middle school I pass by every day has a sign that gives the school zone speed limit with the same 'when children are present' disclaimer. 25MPH if they are there, but 40MPH when they're not. When I pass by at 4-4:30, there may be one or two stragglers hanging around waiting to be picked up, but I can't imagine that's the situation the sign intends. They're talking about when the school lets out and children are out there en masse, at least I would think. Otherwise any time I see one kid sitting in front of the school I'm supposed to slam on the brakes? Makes no sense.
Mike
Mike, I just Could Not AGREE with you MORE!
All these people jumping on the OP and his Obvious venting Must All Be The HOLY Ones!
No one has All the Facts yet it just Amazes me how Many have Already Convicted Him without even a Fair Trial!
In a town not too far from me, there is a sign saying "No Right Turn On Red When Children Are Present".
No, it doesn't make any reference to school hours, and--in fact--this intersection is about 1/2 mile from the nearest school. So, when I get to that intersection, I carefully scan the entire area to see if there are any children visible before I turn.
I have to assume that, if a child was to suddenly appear, I would be liable for a ticket. How strange is this?
Thankfully Now some Truly Objective members have entered the Forum and responded, as I am just Completely Floored of how so many individuals have Jumped All Over the OP's situation without Truly knowing The Real Facts and Truth as the OP was just venting, where anyone should know you just cannot hold him to every statement and word on, and maybe just maybe the Most Law Abiding Citizen would have Easily gotten a Speeding ticket in the same OP situation because Something Maybe is just Not Right!
GREAT Question as I would Truly Love to know the answer to this as well, yet from the last time the OP responded to anything was in fact awhile ago and Frankly, I cannot Blame him One Bit for this for the Unbelievable way people Have Seriously Jumped All Over him and his Unfortunate scenario!
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