Editorial

School zone signs should be consistent

Posted

In an unusual start to the school year, many area districts will be opening before Labor Day. Classes will be in session next week — as early as Tuesday in some communities. That means that drivers once again have to be extra cautious on the roads, particularly in school zones, even if we are still mentally in summer mode.

Last year marked the rollout of the school zone speed cameras. To say it was flawed would be an understatement. Some cameras were turned on before school even began, and drivers who had no idea that lower speed limits were in effect got tickets in the mail. Eventually, the sheer volume of driver outrage prompted the County Legislature to repeal the program. Many of the cameras remain standing, though disconnected, as if to remind us of the failed experiment.

But even without them, school zone speed limits will be in effect when classes begins, so drivers will have to slow down.

If anything good came of the speed camera program, it was increased awareness of school zones. The devices forced drivers to reduce their speeds, and we noticed that many continued to do so even after the cameras were turned off.

Additionally, the county improved signage around school zones, doing a better job of indicating where they begin and end. But there is still more work to do, because there’s too much inconsistency in those indicators.

Some school zones, particularly those on main roads, have speed limit signs with flashing yellow lights, which drivers can’t help but notice. We need more of these signs, particularly in front of every school on a main road, where drivers are more likely to speed.

But the flashing lights need to operate only when the speed limit is in effect, or, at minimum, when children are arriving at and leaving school. Some of them flash 24 hours a day, seven days a week — in front of Island Trees Middle School on Wantagh Avenue, for example. No driver is going to take that seriously at 10 p.m. on a Saturday, which will surely make those flashing lights less effective at times when they really matter.

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