School Zone Sign Changes
You may have noticed around town that some of the school zone signs have changed. Some like the change, some don’t. Many people used to complain they didn’t like the school zone signs with the times posted. They felt the times were hard to see, and it was too confusing, having to read the times as you drove through.
Now, you will see signs that say WHEN CHILDREN ARE PRESENT, instead of times.
SO, now drivers are asking me, “what does that mean?”
I gathered up my friends from the city and county to explain.
According to the county:
Time School Zones are in Effect.
School Zones and School Crossing Zones are in effect from 30 minutes prior to the start of the education day until 30 minutes after the education day ends as per state law. State law does allow for the speed reduction to not be in effect during the education day hours and for the school zones and school crossing zones can be posted WHEN CHILDREN ARE PRESENT. All School Zones and School Crossing Zones are in effect during the times that are on the signs, the flashers are active, or 30 minutes prior to the educational day starting until 30 minutes after the educational day ends when children are present in the zone depending on the sign posted. Additionally, a school zone or school crossing zone is in effect during school hours when children are present in the school zone or school crossing zone.
Basically, we believe the school zone and/or school crossing zones are in effect “when children are present” during an educational day. Not on weekends or holidays or when school is not in its normal educational time frame. Attached you will find our latest “school zone” pamphlet, which might also help. As for the enforcement within these zones, you might want to check with Metro.
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And this is from the city of Las Vegas:
The signs that read When Children Are Present are in effect during hours children are going to or from school on school days. In the past when time of day was used , there could be hundreds of children trying to cross a street and drivers only slow down during the time specified on the signs regardless if children were present or not. This policy left children who were a few minutes early or late unprotected. There is a thought that, if drivers are trained to look for children and slow down for them, pedestrian safety would be improved, especially at crosswalks where pedestrians (children and adults) have the most diffeculty crossing our streets. In the past , officers found drivers were more concerned about the time when the school zones were in effect and not the reason why the school zones were installed. Many times, when children were just a few minutes after or before the posted times, drivers would not slow down or think about how difficult crossing the street is for a young school student.
With this new policy When Children Are Present, hopefully drivers will give children more consideration while going to and from school, and possibly get drivers to be more alert of pedestrians all the time.
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I hope this helps and makes sense to everyone.
What do you think makes more sense? Times? Or WHEN CHILDREN ARE PRESENT.
Personally, I like WHEN CHILDREN ARE PRESENT. You should always slow down when you see kids or even adults in a school zone. I think it’s common sense. But who am I? Right. 
Tags: school zones, WHEN CHILDREN ARE PRESENT
Categories: traffic
September 7th, 2008 at 2:15 am
I can tell you firsthand that nobody cares unless they have to. Nearly everybody behind the wheel has a “me first” attitude. “When Children Are Present” is far to ambiguous to stand up to real scrutiny. We have enough money floating around this valley to put up flashing lights around every school. That is an unmistakable warning to slow down. You have to make this kind of thing “idiot-proof”. Post the signs with the lights and set the timers correctly, then the school-zone speed limits can be enforced without question.
Let’s say (for the sake of argument) that there are just two kids “present”… and someone blasts down the street at 45 miles per hour. They get pulled over and cited for speeding in a school zone when children are present. Let’s think about this like a lawyer… were the children just on the sidewalk near the school? Does only 2 kids walking down a sidewalk mean everyone has to slow down to 25? Were the kids actively trying to cross the street? Was it a time of day when a reasonable driver wouldn’t expect to encounter children near a school? Would the officer have to have the names of the 2 children to verify that they were “present” on the date and time that the ticket was written? Let’s say a brother and sister were running late due to band practice and they’re walking near the school at 5:30 pm, would their mere presence cause the school-zone speed limit to take effect?
This is just what I’m coming up with off the top of my head while trying to play devil’s advocate… These are all arguments someone could make if they were cited under the “when children are present” guideline (I call it a guideline because I just poked a bunch of holes in it being a “LAW”)
Why don’t we just put up the flashing lights and be done with it? When the lights are flashing, if you’re going faster than 25 (or 15, depending) you stand a good chance of being cited for speeding in a school zone.
Okay, sure, there will be kids going to and from school at times of day when the lights won’t be flashing, but that will be a very very small percentage. Remember, you can’t protect every single person from every single danger out there, it’s just not practical. You might not get hit by a car in a school zone but when you get home a plane might land on your house!!!
September 8th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
“When CHILDREN are present.” Does this mean more than one CHILD? What if I see only one child and one parent? But, this is better than the posted hours – - you take your eyes off the road too long to read the small print indicating what hours you are to obey the 25 mph zone!!
September 8th, 2008 at 10:04 pm
I completely agree with James. Lights are the easiest way to break away from any concern wether it is school zome time or not. I mean face it, people don’t read but they are usually aware of flashing ligths.
Take the traffic signals for example. They don’t say go, slow, or stop. They are colors that tell our brain what to do. (no reading involved) When there is reading involved take “no u turn” or “no turning right when light is red” or I’m sure everyone’s favorite: STOP, some people just ignore what these things say. Granted people ignore the lights too, BUT a higher percentage usually follow the “light” laws.
Hey James: Are you the same “James” from all the other comments? You are one smart and practical person and tell it like it is. Nice to see there are still people out there like you!
September 9th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
Wouldn’t it be more appropriate if it read WHEN STUDENTS ARE PRESENT?? You can easily tell who’s a student because they usually wear some kind of “uniform” these days such as a collared shirt and no jeans and obviously they’d be wearing a backpack or walking home with books in their hands…
September 9th, 2008 at 11:04 pm
Yes yes, it’s me. I’m not always popular because I do tend to speak my mind without a mute button, but thanks for the kind words!
September 18th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
Oh, and another bit of irony I just picked up on, here’s a bit from the 1st paragraph at the top of this page: “Many people used to complain they didn’t like the school zone signs with the times posted. They felt the times were hard to see, and it was too confusing, having to read the times as you drove through.”
Okay, let’s use that logic on our shiny new HOV lane that was just installed on US95 several months ago… it started out as an easy-to-understand HOV lane, right? You can only drive in it if there are at least two people in your vehicle (or you’re on a motorcycle). Simple? Yes. Fool-Proof? Sure. A few months into it, what did they do? They made the HOV lane rules apply during certain times of day and they made nifty little signs that had times posted on them. So the HOV lane is only an HOV lane between…. what do those signs say? 6am to 10am and then 2pm to 7pm Monday through Friday? Do you know how hard those signs are to read when you’re doing 65-75mph?? People were complaining about the difficulty in reading a nice big School Zone sign when they were doing 30mph, now we expect them to read a tiny little HOV sign (with morning AND evening restrictions posted) when they’re doing HIGHWAY SPEEDS?? C’mon!!!
September 30th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
“school zone” pamphlet mentioned as being attached, isn’t
October 14th, 2008 at 7:12 am
Another school zone notation for driver’s consideration, On a divided roadway, it is NOT necassary to for oncoming vehicles to stop for school busses. Albeit a good idea to slow down in case a child crosses but, the routing of busses makes for drop off on the respective sides of busy roads so kids do not cross them.I have had 2 vehicles rear-ended because of drivers stopping and other not stopping and not paying attn.(and this is in LESS than 3 yrs., hello ins. rate hike!!)
October 24th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
When children are present?!?, In order to be present you would have to see the children, and of course it is the unseen children that get hit. Not everybody driving down a street by a school are aware of the operation hours and holidays of the school. (year round or otherwise)
Just forget the required “death to cost ratio” our city planners are so famous for and please post hours on these signs and install flashing traffic lights.
November 22nd, 2008 at 12:30 pm
The first thing that I am confused about is NOT whether or not to slow down while children are present. If a child is trying to cross the road, I slow down/stop, no matter what time of day it is. I am confused as to whether we have to slow down while the children are in school through out the day. I live in an area that has numerous elementary schools, and between recess and whatnot, technically children are always present. I can’t seem to find any definite guidelines to this sign. All I’ve been able to find is a general idea based off of signs that have times on them.
The second thing that confuses me is the problem that everyone is complaining about having to do, which is PAY ATTENTION WHILE YOU’RE DRIVING! Maybe if people would put their cell phones down, stop digging in their glove boxes, or trying to fix their hair and or makeup while they are driving, we wouldn’t have reasons to try to make something like street signs “Idiot Proof”. DMV should set their standards a little higher if, as a society, we have to “Idiot Proof” our streets because they are handing out licenses for something that has the highest death rate in our country.
February 25th, 2009 at 9:52 am
1. What time does my local high school, elementary school, middle school, private school open and close??
2. What is the school year for my local high school, elementary school, middle school, private school.
3. “When children are present” does that include Friday night and Saturday Football games, graduation, parties, etc. What About Sunday Church services?
These are just some of the problems with “When children are present”. My problem is not that we should drive like crazy at times when “When children are not present” but rather the times when a child or two may be in the area and you don’t see them but get pulled over. This “Law” is just too ambiguous. I keep hearing people say “How much clearer can you get?” Well, in my opinion, “When children are present” is about as clear as mud.
February 25th, 2009 at 9:57 am
Have to add:
“1. What time does my local high school, elementary school, middle school, private school open and close??
2. What is the school year for my local high school, elementary school, middle school, private school?”
Should I keep a schedule so I know when and where I have to reduce speeds?
May 26th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
i was pulled over for doing 32 in a 15
it was around noon on a friday there was a sign with posted times on it but due to the new poilicy going on around town i glanced at it trying to keep my eyes on the road and i assumed it said “when childern are present”. there were no kids on the street so i continued to do 32 when the regular speed limit was 35. of course i got pulled over and cited a 380 dollar ticket. i have court next week and i dont know if i should plead gulity or not. i admit i was speeding, but had no idea i was speeding. it wasnt until i drove past the school again that i realized the sign had posted times. i think all schools should had flashing lights. we have enough money for it but the government is too busy using it to dig up road four or five times a year.
September 9th, 2009 at 7:33 pm
This law is ambiguous (and therefore unenforceable, if you ask me) for several reasons:
“When children are present” — Present where? Anywhere in the world? That would be all the time then. In the driver’s sight? What if you’re busy watching the traffic close to your vehicle, not gawking all over the sidewalks and side roads for “children.” How are you supposed to know if there are children behind a van, out of your view, but “present” just the same. Is every driver going past a school supposed to know if school is in session or not? What if it’s a school holiday? Are drivers with no children or not familiar with the area expected to know that? And what qualifies as a “child?” What if you spot a person on the sidewalk and you can’t tell how old they are by taking a quick glance at them? Is there some age implied that defines “child?” How is a driver supposed to know the age of a person they see?
And where does the “school zone” end? There is never an “end of school zone – you can start driving like a bat out of hell from here on” sign posted.
These points may sound frivolous, but I think in legal parlance a defendant could make a strong case to beat any citation issued to them based on these ambiguities.
Considering that there are often traffic cops lying in wait in front of schools in morning and early afternoon hours solely for the purpose of issuing citations based on this law, it would behoove drivers to force this issue in the courts.