A few years back, the high school by which I had to drive every day to park at work installed new speed limit signs. Rather than posting certain times, they included the ambiguous language "when children are present". This began to create a problem.
I soon began to notice that the police would make stops at almost all hours of the day. Even hours after school had let out, they were pulling people over. Finally, I stopped and asked one of the policemen to clarify, because I'm one of those people who interpreted the sign to mean "if you see a child anywhere (and half the college age kids look like children), drive 15mph." He admitted the signage was appropriately vague. He gave me an asinine answer that led me to believe that it depended more on the cops than on the drivers and that it might be designed to make people drive that slowly through that section all the time. If that's the case, just make the speed limit 15mph permanently and be done with it. The signs are a trick, because they're open to interpretation by too many people and because you can't argue with a cop and win. You have to do that with a judge, and even then it's no guarantee.
Today, the city of Henderson, which abutts Las Vegas to the south and southeast, announced a carte blanch replacement of school speed limit signs with these same ambiguous markers with which Las Vegas has since dispensed. Few people hold the police of their town in high regard, and so I can only imagine how the Henderson Police may take this to an unhealthy extreme. At least Vegas Metro cops are reasonable. Henderson's reasoning is that:
"research data shows that motorists drive slower through school zones marked by, “When Children Are Present” signs, resulting in increased pedestrian safety in school zones."
I'd like to see this research data and learn who paid for the study.
When I took statistics, I learned that research data can easily be made to show things it does not. That truth was further exascerbated in graduate school. People can obfuscate and omit results, fudge numbers, forget controls, drop the statistics, dismiss outliers, and focus on particular subjects to make the data fit the lines. Shoot, even the Brother's Grimm taught us that some people will cut off toes and heels in order to make something fit (in the original tale of Cinderella, her stepsisters manipulate their feet hoping to get into the slipper, which is clearly too small for them). I don't trust the data just because Henderson township says I should.
The only way this claim can be true in my mind is that everyone always drives more slowly in these regions for fear of moving violations. The signage does not specify what it means to be present, and can be interpreted to mean if there is a child somewhere anywhere in anyone's field of view. Aren't they locked into the school grounds during recess? Do we really need to drive slowly during school hours? The cops seem to think so. They count on it. If you are afraid of a ticket, you will drive more slowly. That will contribute to safer school zones. It is not that the zones are safer as much as it inconveniences all the motorists who use the roads that are built for their cars. I would like to know what percentage of school zone injuries and fatalities occur during times when children can be reasonably expected to be arriving at or departing the school grounds en masse and not circumstantially because children, to whom the streets do not belong actually, are not paying attention or being reckless.
This policy villifies drivers. Sure, some drivers suck. In the past year, I have twice had people back into my car while it was parked. Both of them paid a hefty price. However, where are the children responsible to not play in the street or act as if the street, which is specifically paved for automobiles, were an extension of their playground? You in essence hold drivers accountable for the choices of people distal to them in space and in time and against whom they cannot possibly purpose harm if they do not know they are there or coming into the way soon. If you really want to do this, it would be more honest to simply change the speed limit to 15mph all the time, because then at least it's consistent and clear to everyone and not in the mind of the policeman or politicians.
Sometimes, we say too much and avoid the simple solution for one that sounds wise.
Brevity is the soul of wit. --Hamlet, Act 2, scene ii
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