Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
School zone speed bump: A costly ticket
Hundreds caught exceeding limit during first week of classes
The cop is standing right there in the school speed zone. He’s aiming his radar gun at traffic. You’d have to have your eyes shut to miss him.
And then … whoosh …a car races right by him.
It’s one more reminder that many South Florida drivers simply don’t belong behind the wheel of a car, and certainly not around children.
The first week of school proved it. Hundreds of drivers plowed right through school zones, where the speed limit is 20 mph during drop-off and pickup times.
It happened at least 121 times in Boynton Beach on the first four days of school. One driver Thursday was clocked at 56 mph, almost three times the speed limit.
Fort Lauderdale police issued 65 tickets in the day and a half after school started — and 106 warnings.
Much-smaller Boca Raton still ticketed 22 drivers and issued 52 warnings.
Mike Deloye wasn’t one of the worst ones, but he’ll have to pay anyway. He got stopped right outside his neighborhood off Congress Avenue in Boynton Beach. Police said he was driving 29 mph in front of Crosspointe Elementary School about a half-hour before school started at 8 a.m.
“I’m pretty aware most of the time. My mind was elsewhere,” said Deloye, who
had just dropped off his son at high school. “I saw the flashing lights and tried to slow down, but it was too late.”
Deloye will have to pay $156. That’s for going 1 to 9 miles over the 20 mph limit, an amount set by the state,
Fines can go much steeper. If a driver goes 30 mph or more over the speed limit near a school, the ticket costs $606. A citation almost anywhere else for the same offense would cost $250.
Most of the money from speeding tickets feeds state and county coffers. It’s split among emergency medical, child welfare, criminal justice, foster care, wildlife and other accounts.
Only about one-eighth of a ticket fee goes to the city that issued it, but that means Boynton and Fort Lauderdale still made at least a few thousand dollars from school zones this week.
The risks will rise starting Jan. 1. That’s when it will become illegal to use handheld devices in school zones, although handsfree technology such as Bluetooth will be OK. Warnings will be given out beginning Oct. 1.
Boynton police Sgt. Phillip Hawkins has heard all of the excuses for ignoring school zones: “I didn’t realize this was a school zone.” “I started to slow down when I saw you.” “I guess I wasn’t paying attention.”
“At the end of the day,” Hawkins said, “we all have excuses. But we all have to take responsibility.”
So here’s your last warning: Slow down. School is back in session.
“At the end of the day, we all have excuses. But we all have to take responsibility.” — Boynton police Sgt. Phillip Hawkins