Is it just me, or is Steilacoom a bit nutty with the school zones?
20 mph from 7am till 9pm.
What the heck is that? Who is leaving their kids at school till 9 pm or even 5 pm. Last I checked, schools got out around 3:30pm. My kid comes home around 3.
I've driven down Old Military Road in Steilacoom around 4pm on several days and counted the kids walking. The count was ZERO. Are these designated times in place for child safety or for some other reason? Some locals believe the extended times are to increase the amount of speeding tickets given by the city. While this may raise some money for the city, is this the right way to go about it? According to this month's "The Hometown Clipper" Steilacoom had 73 speeding citations in the last recorded month.
Maybe I'm ignorant, but these school zone hours seem illogical to me.
-John
p.s.
Why are Steilacoom signs unsightly neon when the rest of the US seems to find yellow okay?
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4 comments:
Hear, hear!
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for pedestrian safety (especially for school kids), but the hours the 20 mph limit is in place seems way excessive.
Resisting the notion that the town (heaven forfend!) might have an ulterior motive such as the original poster suggests, might the reasoning have something to do with the playground next to the school?
I actually visited city council about the topic. There are two signs in the town which state "when children are present." I displayed a map where these were posted...right next to a school. These types of signs are much more logical.
The city lawyer (or the guy next to him) said that those types of signs were to ambiguous. I then displayed the text from the RCWs. Didn't look too ambiguous to me.
After that, they stated as Chuck said, it was for the school playgrounds during the extended summer daylight hours.
I asked if there were any studies done to determine usage. No.
So we have these signs based on a guess. I have recently been monitoring the school zone usage in front of my home and on my commute to work.
I have to say...Steilacoom has some of the most inactive school zones I have ever seen. Most of the students I see walking are outside of a school zone.
A majority of Steilacoom kids are driven to school by their parents.
And on the extended hour playground thing. Why doesn't Steilacoom then have Playground Zones next to their plethora of parks and playgrounds?
Still doesn't sit right with me. The mayor said he would send me some background information on the topic, however I have not received anything yet.
I suspect that these oppressive school zone speed limits hours have been have been forced upon society by anyone who can make a buck. The list includes lawyers, the sign manufacturers, the lobbyists who work for these people. The police to a lesser extent(They're just enforcing the law, with the exception of the Lakewood Police,these school zones are a big fat cash cow for them and it's all under the guise of it's "for the children". Wrong! It's for sucking more money from you and I. These School Zones signs and zone hours are no subsitute for safe driving practices for the drivers and no subsutute for proper parenting by the parents.
If you ask yourself who has the most to gain financially from these regulations then you will probablly answer your own question.
Now as for myself I primarily drive lawfully in my town of steilacoom for my safety as well as for others on the road.
As a bonus I get to piss off the people scrambling to get to the ferry or trying to get home to the Mega Weyerhaeuser housing developments in DuPont. If they don't like it they can get there Via I-5 and or the DuPont Steilacoom road. 25mph is a fine speed limit for this town!
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