school zone speed limits

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So I have a school zone right at the entrance of my neighborhood and the speed limit for the main road is 50mph and during school zone hours it's 30mph. Then you get into the neighborhood and the speed limit is 20mph and I don't think that speed limit decreases any when the kids are releasing, but I'll do between 10-12mph usually and the crossing guard always signals me to slow down. It literally doesn't matter what speed I'm going. I'm starting to think it's because I drive a diesel. You know how some people hear a bunch of noise and they assume you're going fast? I put my foot on the throttle to take a left into the neighborhood, then I'm practically coasting the rest of the way through the little 250 foot long school zone. I've even argued with the guy a couple times too. He's like well if that's 12mph, you need to get your speedometer checked.

Opinions?
 
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Formally grieve the harassment.

Where abouts in Houston?
 
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I had a school crossing guard tell me that 5 mph is too fast once. I think some of those people take their job a bit too seriously.

School zones around here are 25 mph (usually labeled with signs) while school is in session. No matter how much noise you make, if you are going the limit or below they can't do anything. It is one thing if kids are trying to cross and he is signaling for you to stop or something, but otherwise there shouldn't be an issue.
 
Does he drive in the fast lane at 10 below the speed limit making everyone late for work? Or maybe he's the guy that writes angry letters to the city about rabbit poop he finds on his lawn.
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Imo it's better to be looking up and looking out for kids, not looking at the dash worrying about how I'm doing 15mph instead of 10.
 
Unrelated but ... After getting a school zone ticket for following the speed limit signs (including the one that tells you the school zone is over), I idle in 1st gear through school zones!

There's no such thing as too slow for me.

A week after getting the ticket I had to pick up a U-Haul trailer in the exact spot I got the ticket. The F-350 with 6:1 first gear and 4.10 gears idles very slow. But I had the flashers on so I was safe.
 
Just for the record we have those led signs that tell you how fast you're going in a few different areas that I drive to and my speedometer is spot on.
 
Originally Posted By: jeepman3071
I had a school crossing guard tell me that 5 mph is too fast once. I think some of those people take their job a bit too seriously.



Yep, especially when they have the least little bit of power.
 
I personally prefer very consistent speed laws; when it's clear to drivers they can look around instead of worrying about the speed. If, for example, there are only three urban* speed limits (it's not particularly important what they are; the local citizens should decide) then people know how fast they should be going wherever they are.

Some places have speed limits that change incrementally everywhere, nobody knows how fast they should be going (I know there are signs, but not every sign is well placed for drivers, so they can be missed).

Not sure what to say about someone getting a ticket when traveling below the posted limit. You can't do that here (radar evidence, photo radar or car camera footage when following is required, and there is no penalty available for exceeding by 10 km / 6 mph or less) but you have my sympathies.

For what it's worth, the people most often seen ignoring posted limits at School Zones, in my experience, are the parents of students attending. That these are also the ratepayers who most stridently demand such limits, you have to wonder if the safety of their own children is really a priority, versus just appearing to care.

* Not referring to urban arteries that carry what amounts to highway traffic, but even then, there should be just one limit where traffic lights aren't encountered, and another where they are, and those should be long and interrupted.
 
I see schools with kids around, I almost creep. They aren't watching......they're kids. I couldn't bare the thought of hitting a kid. I lose maybe 30-45 seconds of drive time vs a lifetime of grief. No contest.
 
People ride my butt when I drive less than 25MPH in my neighborhood. Good for you for being safer than most.

I would get my speedometer checked, just so I could smugly show it to him and shut him up.
 
I think some folks can't judge speed well. If your truck is large, it may look to him like it is going faster than it is.

If they set up a speedtrap, you'd be in the right at 10-12.
 
Originally Posted By: gathermewool
People ride my butt when I drive less than 25MPH in my neighborhood. Good for you for being safer than most.

I would get my speedometer checked, just so I could smugly show it to him and shut him up.


The speed limit in my neighborhood is 25 MPH and people can ride my butt all day long, but that's as fast as I'll allow them to go. I'll also hog the road to prevent them passing me. There are children in the neighborhood as well as people walking their dogs, so slow is good.
The irony is that the same folks who can't drive at a safe speed on a residential street are clogging up traffic on the interstate since they're afraid to maintain the speeds left lane traffic requires on rural limited access highways.
Too fast when they should be going slowly and too slow when they should be driving fast.
Fulltime clueless.
 
About 15 years ago I had constant run ins with a driver on my street I considered the "worst driver" I ever saw. And I got to experience him first hand in his truck over several years as he broke about every traffic law imaginable on his way to work approx 12 miles away. It was my "luck" to be on his route each day as we often left around the same time. If he left 1-5 minutes after me, he'd invariably be on my butt at some point trying to pass on a double yellow line (40 mph speed limit) despite on-coming traffic. His best maneuver would be to pass a line of traffic 3-6 cars long, in a no passing zone! One time he brake checked me hard on the highway (from 65 mph down to 20 mph) because I had the nerve to not let him immediately pass me on the highway on ramp. That nearly caused a wreck.

The irony of this guy is that he had the nerve to post a pair of signs on his driveway: "please slow down for the kids."
cry.gif


I can only imagine what this jerk would have done in a school zone. It was a happy day in the neighborhood when that piece of work moved away.
 
Originally Posted By: fdcg27
Originally Posted By: gathermewool
People ride my butt when I drive less than 25MPH in my neighborhood. Good for you for being safer than most.

I would get my speedometer checked, just so I could smugly show it to him and shut him up.


The speed limit in my neighborhood is 25 MPH and people can ride my butt all day long, but that's as fast as I'll allow them to go. I'll also hog the road to prevent them passing me. There are children in the neighborhood as well as people walking their dogs, so slow is good.
The irony is that the same folks who can't drive at a safe speed on a residential street are clogging up traffic on the interstate since they're afraid to maintain the speeds left lane traffic requires on rural limited access highways.
Too fast when they should be going slowly and too slow when they should be driving fast.
Fulltime clueless.


Yep....
 
I agree with others who said the crossing guard can't judge your speed correctly - who cares anyway, if he's really concerned about people speeding, he'll ask the local police to come do some laser/radar and catch those who actually ARE over the limit.
 
In Ohio they post signs "speed limit 20 during restricted hours" near schools. Some have flashing lights as well. What I can't comprehend is this: What are restricted hours? When kids are in the building? When kids are visible outside? There are 3 schools adjacent to each other on Winton Rd that have different start times, so the 20 MPH school zone changes dramatically over a 45 minute period in the morning. It's confusing, because the flashing lights are only on when kids are dropping off, on recess, or leaving, not the whole time they're in the building.

We also have confusion about who has to stop for school buses with their red lights on...on a 4 lane road opposing traffic doesn't stop. The presumption is that they wouldn't have kids cross a 4 lane road to get to their bus stop. There are times that opposing traffic DOES stop because people don't understand the law, and it becomes a potential hazard.

I cut through a subdivision periodically where a homeowner posted a professionally made sign that says something to the effect "IF YOU HIT MY KID OR MY DOG, YOU WON'T NEED A LAWYER"
 
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