Speeders in School Zones

**hookem202** · 10-12-2005, 02:56 PM

Today i recieved my K-band Bushnell Velocity radar gun. I went to a local school zone as school was letting out. The school zone lights flashing. I set up my car and hid behind a tree. K-band is used alot almost all the time. The Speed Limit in the zone went from 55mph to 30mph. I could not believe how fast people were going. Out of about 200 targeted cars only about 10 wernt going 5 over. DOnt get me wrong i do speed, but NOT in a school zone. Many of the cars were going at least 7mph over. I clocked one at 68mph thats well twice the posted limit. The cars with RD's were mostly the ones speeding. I got to admit it it was fun screwing with these few. They continued driving 35 for as long as my eye could see even after the speed limint went back up to 55mph. A few sherrif's drove by and noticed what i was doing. They just waved.

**lordhamster** · 10-12-2005, 03:00 PM

You have way too much free time.

That being said, I also slow down in school zones. Kids are stupid and tend to run in front of cars. I woudn't want my front bumper damaged.

**edweird** · 10-12-2005, 03:04 PM

I never, ever speed in a school zone.

Nevermind the ticket, I couldn't live with my self if a child was hit by my car, and I knew there was something I could have done to avoid it.(not speed)

It could be 10PM at night on Sunday and I'd still slow down if the yellow lights were blinking.

Ed

**Aaron** · 10-12-2005, 03:15 PM

Well it depends on the time for me, as well as the day.

Near me, kids get out:
High school: 2:10
Middle school: 2:50
Elementary: 3:40

However, the lights are on about a half hour before these times. I won't maintain the regular speed limit, but I'll admit 15mph is a bit grueling when I know they're in class. These speeds also change depending on the school. High School, the kids are bigger and know better, half of them are driving and need not cross the street anyway. Middle, a little slower. Elementary, right around the 15-20 mph mark.

I will admit that on holidays when those lights are on and I know they're not in session and there are literally no cars in the parking lot, I'm maintaining the normal speed limit with disregard to the broken 15mph blinking sign.

**hookem202** · 10-12-2005, 03:17 PM

Going to school and putting 40 hours a week at work. Wheres the free time? The main reason i got the radar gun was to check my RD. Make sure it does not need to be calibrated. Clocking speeds is just extra fun. I think anyone common citizen who does not have access to a radar gun normaly would enjoy getting to use one for a little bit.

**hookem202** · 10-12-2005, 03:22 PM

There are many factors when you say you would still sometimes speed. What if your child gets out of school early one day and you come drinng along thinking school is not out yet, You hit them, making them cripple for life. Could You Live with Yourself? Also if your kid stays late for help on HW or finishinf football practice,and comes out 45 mins later and the lights are still flashing and your kid gets hit.

**Aaron** · 10-12-2005, 03:47 PM

I agree, there are many factors. In my case, there isn't much on the other side of the street for kids to go running to and no matter what age, they're all being led by a crossing guard. In other cases, it may be a crowded city street or with a neighborhood directly across the street but I don't know of any.

Because that zone is marked the school zone, I don't consider it the most hazardous. The most danger I see and where I take precautions is in the neighborhoods after school, where the normal speed limits remain and there is no supervision and a lot of playing.

Without sounding too numb to this, I do believe the school zones in my area are there for the safety of the guard and to get buses out in a timely matter. You'd be amazed how sharply you have to stop at even 15 mph when the school bus blows through the stop sign at the end of the school driveway.

**tjbender** · 10-12-2005, 03:53 PM

It depends. In Tempe, school zones are 35 mph at all times, including Sunday nights in July. I stay right around 35 mph if I know school is in session, but if it's a weekend or after about 4:30 PM, I admit that I cruise with traffic at about 40-45.

Police in Tempe are a crapshoot on school zone enforcement. They often set up manned speed traps in them, sometimes using the photo radar van instead. The photo vans give you 10 mph to the best of my estimation, and officers are across the board. I know people who've been pulled for going 4 over in a school zone at 6:30 PM, and I've personally blown past officers running radar in a school zone at 10 over the marked limit at night.

I guess my answer can best be summed up as "it depends."

**stalker** · 10-12-2005, 04:31 PM

I never speed in SZ, Children are blind when it comes to cars. Reminds me of a post some d*ckhead posted re wanting a jammer so he could speed thru school zones...morons

**Tifas-Revenge** · 10-12-2005, 04:39 PM

Well, I used ot speed in a school zone, that's when I got my first ticket. The only problem was, there weren't no darn kids out there at all, just one dude who directs them across the street, and I was coming onto the zone in an area where you couldn't see if the yellow lights were flashing or not, because they weren't posted on that street at all. It wasn't a very well done thing, and the normal speed limit aroudn there is 45 MPH, and I was doing 44.

In our state, children have to be present on the streets where there are schools in order for the limit of 25 MPH to apply, and I was going to challenge the ticket in court, but I was only 16 years old at the time and just plead out guilty and did traffic school and ended up mowing the lawn for a while to work off the payment. The judge that I had was really mean in the Juvenile traffic court, she was like Judge Judy on a VERY BAD DAY.

I hadn't gotten another ticket in a school zone since then, and the only ticket afterwards in April this year that I had forced me to buy my X50 so I could avoid them. It was a Laser ticket in Scotts Valley by the Scotts Valley Police for doing 50 in a 35MPH Zone on Mt. Hermon Rd. I just got fet up with speed traps at that moment after trying to fight the system in court, because the judges here are extremely biased towards the LEO who cited you. You can't even get a lawyer without paying the price of the tickets anyway if not more, and I just don't think it's fair, since everyone should have a lawyer appointed to them no matter what law they break even if they cannot afford one. Justice in our state is so ****ed up. Feel free to argue though.