(NEXSTAR) – Summer is in full swing, meaning many kids are out of school. Even if you aren’t handling school drop-offs or pick-ups lately, you may still find yourself driving through a school zone, coasting past some version of a sign warning you to reduce your speed.
Those signs, prominent with their bright yellow “SCHOOL” notice, are hard to miss. Yet you may be more inclined to disregard them during summer — school is out anyway, right?
You could, however, still get a ticket, even on a hot Tuesday in the middle of July. It all depends on what your sign says and who is around.
According to the City of Madison, Wisconsin, for example, the reduced speed limit applies “whenever children are going to or from school, whenever kids are within the sidewalk area or near the school, or at an intersection/mid-block crosswalks marked with a sign.”
That, as well as signs like the one below that read “when children are present,” would mean the school zone speed limit is in effect whenever children are trying to cross the street, or on the sidewalk.
When school is in session and students are at recess, the school zone speed limit does not apply, at least in Appleton, Wisconsin, the Appleton Post Crescent previously reported, citing now-retired Sgt. Dave Lund of the Appleton Police Department. He added that the school zone is enforceable during normal school hours — considered to fall between about 7 a.m. and 4 p.m. on weekdays — in the school year.
Since much of June, July, and August would fall outside the normal school year, the school zone speed limits would, generally speaking, not be enforceable.
There are two main exceptions: when summer school is being held and, as mentioned above, when children are present.
“If there are kids present, you can assume that school is in session and the reduced speed limits are in effect,” Mike Lawton, the now-retired chief of police in Republic, Missouri, previously explained to the Springfield News-Leader.
If your area has signs accompanied by flashing lights warning you to slow down, like the sign seen below, you should adhere to that.
Your municipality may also include the times when the school zone is enforced to further ease your qualms. They may be vague, like "7 AM TO 6 PM SCHOOL DAYS," or more detailed, with multiple time frames indicating when the reduced speed limit is in effect.
In most places, you’ll also see a sign that tells you when the school zone has ended. These are often less flashy compared to the signs warning a school zone has started.
After passing this sign, you can return to the speed limit posted prior to the school zone, unless otherwise noted.
Some cities, like New Orleans, deactivate traffic cameras — which can record traffic violations and send tickets to the address listed for a license plate — in their school zones during the summer. In others, including a handful in Georgia, the cameras will remain on when summer school is in session.
Regardless of where you're located or when you're driving, authorities recommend reducing your speed in school zones, especially when children or other pedestrians are around.
Even if a school zone speed limit may not be enforceable right now where you’re driving, those rules will undoubtedly be back in action when students return to class in just a few short weeks.
