On Nov 4, 5:19*am, Alan Baker > wrote:
>
> Simple question: if the school speed zones that are being instituted
> were actually necessary, why didn't the already exist?

You're right, that is simple.

"The existence of x is evidence there is no need for y."

Nice one.

Official perspectives:

"From 2005 through 2007 there were 1,794 speed-related traffic
accidents within a half-mile radius of public and non-public schools
in Baltimore County, excluding major highways."
http://www.baltimorecountymd.gov/Age...boutspeed.html

Whether or not one might agree these crashes were speed related, that
seems a ****load of crashes within 1/2 mile of schools in a single
county even assuming that poorly described time period covers 3 full
years.

http://www.baltimorecountymd.gov/Age...ras/index.html

http://www.baltimorecountymd.gov/Age...peedstats.html

Let's briefly examine some of thenewspaper.com "report":

<q>Maryland cities will create brand new "school zones" in an attempt
to issue speed camera tickets on roads that previously had no need of
the designation.</q>

Obviously they not "creating" "brand new" school zones but are in fact
merely extending those that already exist to their legal limits in
accordance with state law as it regards proximity to schools.

<q>Previously had no need<></q> is a baseless assumption. Perhaps the
need was long obvious but slow to be adopted.

<q>The city's plan is to take a number of roads that are within the
legally required distance to a school but are in areas where children
do not regularly walk.</q>

Children don't "regularly" *walk* there?

I wonder, do these children regularly drive there... ride in buses, or
Mom-mobiles, bicycle there, or skateboard?

What is this vague, nondescript "regularly"? Sounds bad, as it seems
to be intended, but in this context obviously covers a pretty wide and
undefined spectrum and so is essentially meaningless... other than to
strongly imply the writer is so stupid as to suggest there could be no
need for reductions of velocity because vehicles present absolutely no
hazard to others unless they're afoot.

Actually, it does not seem unreasonable to extrapolate from that
opinion that the writer considers operating motor vehicles exactly as
so many of the nearly perfectly ignorant: "perfectly safe".

School zones and nearby areas experience "regular" and "irregular"
periods of high traffic, often far and above the capacity of the
streets where they are located. Much of this traffic presumably
consists of new drivers for whom vehicle crashes are reportedly "the"
leading cause of death:

"Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for U.S. teens,
accounting for more than one in three deaths in this age group." <16
to 19>.
http://www.cdc.gov/MotorVehicleSafet...factsheet.html

If one is a relatively accurate observer of the less obvious effects
of higher velocities on other traffic (and the widespread tendencies
of many drivers to play "close the gap with the preceding vehicle
which may be exceeding the SL x 15 mph") they might be able to imagine
the difficulty and hazards those practices can create for those
wishing to exit a school parking lot, and especially those wishing to
turn L.

As an anecdotal aside, I would estimate the average speed (~15
vehicles) past the house during Trick or Treat hours last Sat., with
the sidewalks, yards, driveways and street crowded (Halloween = street
party around here), with parents pushing strollers (the sidewalks and
street are under construction for NG upgrades, and the sidewalks are
in poor condition anyway) (and the street is too narrow for 2 vehicles
to pass if cars are parked both sides) children dashing about willy-
nilly... at about 35 mph (25, unposted) with a couple approaching 45
mph, a few accelerating as if on a freeway entrance ramp, and one of
those most egregious offenders also exhibiting the "dead ahead stare"
with a cell phone stuck to what could only be his vacuous head.
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- gpsman