LoveItaly

And I just noticed I mistyped. I meant to say 11:00pm to 5:00am (not pm).

gail

In Mass. it is also 20mph in school zone - the annoying part is that some signs read "when school is in session" which is logical. However, other places have a flashing light that is supposed to indicate when it is 20 mph. These always seem to malfunction so that they are flashing at midnight in front of empty schools.

Massachusetts has a number of "junior operator" rules, which they are considering making stricter. Learners permit at age 16 (can only drive with licensed driver over age 21 in front seat). Then "junior operator" for 6 months. No other kids in car, no driving midnight to 5 AM.

In Mass., it is possible that your daughter's "junior operator" time clock would start over for a moving violation.

My son was a passenger in a serious car accident at age 17. His friend was at fault. For some reason, all 4 17 year old boys were wearing seat belts that saved their lives - as did the accident since they all are far safer drivers today. May your daughter also be granted this wisdom from her experience.

janisj

Thank you, dwooddon: I just came across this thread and when I saw aggiemom's "In California, our School Zone was 35 mph. I couldn't believe it. I was going to post what you did but wanted to read through the whole thread first to make sure no one else beat me to it.

aggiemom - 25 mph is the VERY highest speed limit in a CA school zone, and many are lower than that.

So if you were whizzing through them @ 35mph when you lived out here, maybe you shouldn't complain too much about Texas drivers

emd

Did you give your daughter sympathy as she sobbed about getting a ticket for doing 41 in a 20 MPH zone? I hope that instead you told her that when she speeds, she is putting other's at risk and that she has to pay the piper when she is lucky enough to caught instead of causing an accident. She should be sobbing and feeling bad, it's a healthy response and shows she has a conscience. Don't bail her out of this one, unless you want to do it over and over again. Regardless of what the speed limits were in some other state you lived in.

Cali

I also live in Orange County and the speed limit around schools in my city is 25 mph and they are strongly enforced (especially when school is in session). So, you must have been lucky to have more lax enforcement in your former orange county area.

Intrepid1

Where we live, when 16-year-olds speed through school zones and endanger the children there, we gather together and LYNCH the sappy Mothers who are absolutely SHOCKED when they realize their daughters are driving just like THEY do!

aggiemom

I neglected to mention in my original post that in this neighborhood the school zone starts TWO hours before school lets out. It's the furthest street from the school and you don't ever see kids walking. They're waiting for their moms in the Suburban or the Hummer and the cell phone glued to her ear, weaving all over the road, not signalling. Yeah, the kids are much safer with them on the road.

My daughter did slow down to 19 but didn't do it before she entered the zone.

I know she still broke the law and deserves a ticket. I was interested to see what the school zone and other general speed limits were in other states.

It's made a vivid impression on her and she's not allowed to drive for a while. She will be doing a defensive driving course whether or not it will "fix" her record.

GoTravel

aggiemom, don't know if you realize this or not but your insurance is going to quadruple because of her speeding ticket.

In a school zone
Reckless Driving (20 MPH over speed limit)
She's 16

Your daughter was driving recklessly in a school zone. I seriously hope you sit down and talk with her and consider another driving class.

My best friend is the worst driver I know to the point of being a habitual offender.

Her driving record is so bad (no DWI or alcohol related) she lost a very high paying high profile position with Coke. She started out the same way.

Most kids just don't understand the severity of the situation.

Good luck.

seetheworld

"in this neighborhood the school zone starts TWO hours before school lets out"

I don't understand. Is that an inconvenience? The school zone speed limits are in effect where I live well before school opens and closes, each school day.

jcb

aggiemom -

I live in Dallas too. Are you sure that the school zone starts two hours before the kids get out? That seems very odd. If it's an elementary school, the younger kids get out earlier than the older ones which explains why it starts so early.

JJ5

All school zones are 20 mph limit in IL. Most have the flashing lights as well to signal the time limits when they are in effect. And guess what happened this week, one set of flashing lights got wiped out in a 3 car accident. One van was literally chopped in half. New street went in, new stop sign unobserved.

greenfieldhunter, we have the same concerns and are active in our local government on this issue- as you noted. We are rural changing to surburbia and then within 10 years changing to city. Literally that fast. Beautiful farmland is open with 45 to 55 mph roads to the West. As growth occurs every new town or local police entity will arbitrarily change 1 or 2 mile lengths for construction or whatever at will. So we often have 55, 30, 20, 55, open highway, 20 all in sequences. Our area in the last 40 years is double the people that live on the North side of Chicago proper. We have many schools and many parks and lots of forest preserves land, and also private expanses with horse farms etc.

The mix with frequent road signage changes have resulted in one death per mile per year. We are absolutley deadly on this, and almost all of the victims are very young.

I drive a 23 mile reverse commute through changing countryside and bridge a length of 1-1/2 mile over the I&M canal & River complexes with some interstate and expressway crossing. When my guy has driven this with me for school events, and sees what I see every day, he said he couldn't believe his eyes. The things I see people do every day- if I explained them at length, you wouldn't believe it. Farmers, women with kids in mini-vans etc. etc. It's not just young people. I have seen people cut across farms, try to cut across the railroad tracks to transverse the lane to get into the border area (not a lane) and continue on that area across the bridge etc. Also I have had three cars pass me going 60 to 70 on the 45mph part and in the non-passing two lane road.

There are policemen everywhere, but never enough to get them all. A yellow light is not even a "slow down". I have to watch my rear view constantly because twice I have been forced to get off the road to the right because someone has been plowing in behind me going like 60 and it's already been yellow for 2 seconds. The first part of the red has become like the yellow used to be.

Sorry to rant. But we have neighbor groups forming for this issue. And in our sub-division we have formed one to patrol for the young ones. Sorry, but all we have located have been under 21.

They come out of cul de sac's going 30 plus and enter cross streets in the subdivision without stopping. One young man who I like said this to me, REALLY:

"You don't understand we are used to things being fast, we won't be any x or y - we are the "instant gratification" generation." He said this laughing.

The paper today is a 2 way on the Bishop Ford IN THE WORK ZONE with fatalities. No workers this time as then literally dove for their lives. The driver is critical, critical- but they say if he lives it will be at least half of a 20 year jail sentence as he was a pre-offender.

That's why I do think I would not pooh-pooh a ticket, althought it isn't a fun experience.

I'll get off my soapbox now, but it only takes a second of total distraction or "me" concern to ruin lives, and it could be her/his own.

bethsmall1

Here in Florida her speeeding fine would have been doubled and she would have been charged with rekless driving. School zones are slow for a reason. many kids are are injured and killed by speeding motorist while getting on the bus. Didn't she see the flashing yellow lights, Showing it was a school zone? If she were my daughter I would take away her driving privliges.
Teenagers need to slow down.

aggiemom

jcb - this was in Southlake on Continental Blvd. The school zone begins at 1:30 PM and ends at 3:35 PM.

aggiemom

JJ5 - thanks for the information about the changing speeds on the roads near you. I appreciate knowing that.

jcb - there are actually two school zone times on this road. One allows for the earlier kids. One for the older kids which is 1:30 to 3:35 PM.

Fodorite018

In our suburb of Portland, OR the school speed limit is 20 mph...but that is 24 hours a day. Yes, it is a little slower going through there even at off hours, but I am not complaining at all. The police are constantly patrolling it, usually several of them at a time.

aggiemom

I appreciate all your input. I will mend my ways and stop complaining!

Thanks,
mom

schlegal1

I am, like greenfieldhunter, a Virginian. We have a limit of 65 on interstate highways and people routinely do 80 (including 16-wheelers) despite a large deer population that causes many, many accidents and fatalities. School zones are 25 and residential streets 25. City streets 35 and secondry roads 45-55.

I agree, greenfieldhunter, these speeds on secondary roads are dangerous with all the development in our once beautiful farmlands.

Every time I think, "boy, this is so slow!" I remind myself it's better to be frustrated by a low limit than to hit and kill/injure someone. If such a horrible thing happened, you would at least want to be able to say that you were going the speed limit, right?

LT

Here in MD, the police seem far too interested in catching speeders and seat belt violators than in dealing with violent criminals. Nowhere is this more true than in Baltiomre, where I live. While Baltimore was recently rated as having the 2nd-worst violent crime rate of any major U.S. city, the police seem to spend an inordinate amount of time worrying whether someone has their seat belt on than in catching the guy who just shot someone down the street. And, unfortunately, it looks like our incompetent mayor will become the next governor.

Also, one very serious problem here is people who use the left lane as if it were their own personal lane to go as slow as they see fit. All of the traffic laws specifically state that the left lane is for passing, yet I have witnessed countless times people driving slow in the left lane, forcing other motorists to shift into the other lanes to get past them. This seems to be a problem not just in MD, but in DC & VA, as well. I guess none of the mid-Atlantic states teach drivers that the left lane is for PASSING ONLY. It creates a very dangerous situation on the roads.

cybor

The school speed limit around here in RI is 20 mph. I wasn't paying attention one day and ended up with a huge fine and it also highly benefited my insurance co. for at least 5 yrs.

Boy did I learn my lesson.......
Now I watch for cops before entering those areas ..... (JK) about the cop part.

kamahinaohoku

aggiemom - sorry, but I just have to ask this: If the two school zone times on this road run from 1:30 to 3:35 PM, why was your daughter outside driving? At 16, she shouldn't she have been IN school?