Why do most High Schools I’ve come across in the US have 20mph school zones around them?
Shouldn’t a bit of darwinism be applied and those that can’t manage to cross a regular street cross walk without getting hit not be allowed to graduate?
It’s to weed out the idiot drivers in the area.
the high schoolers are also DRIVING :shock:
You’re approaching the problem from the wrong angle. Speed limits in general are set stupidly low in certain areas so local law enforcement can rake in the revenue through issuing speeding tickets.
Exactly. Weeding out the idiot drivers.
Speaking of which, is it just something related to “things were better in the past” nostalgic memory, or have yellow lights gotten considerably shorter?
It seems even more true in areas that have stoplight trap cameras around them.
I periodically drive past my old high school, and I always think to myself when the school zone is in effect Wow, I’m actually paying attention to the school zone now. Never did in high school.
And 20? It’s 15 for all schools here in Vegas, $100 per mile over.
I’ve read plenty of columns that document a reduction in yellow-time when stoplight cameras are installed. The reason? The suppliers of stoplight cameras share the revenue for the tickets with the cities that install it.
Like most traffic-related fines nowadays, its a method of income generation.
We had 3 kids killed in less than 2 years at a high school near my house. The road nearby is a 45-mph zone, 35 during school hours. They finally installed hurricane fences to force the kids to cross the street near a signal. They would just sort of roam across the road anywhere before that, like some sort of darwinnian bison or something.
So no, teenagers don’t have the sense god gave a goat. Worse, they think that bad things won’t happen to them, so don’t feel the need to be very careful most of the time.
The natural history progam I most recently watched contained the observation that both wildebeest worried about crossing a croc-infested river, and baby turtles crossing a dangerously-exposed beach, will adopt the same strategy - all cross at once so that the total time the group is in danger is minimized. It would seem these teenagers have successfully overridden this instinct :)
neat!