Q: Signs around public schools often read “Speed Limit 20 mph when children are present”. Does this mean when children are present inside the school? Or when children are present outside the school?
A: If we could travel back in time 110 years, the answer to this question would be yes to both situations, and when they’re not present at all. Washington’s first school zone law established a speed limit of 12 mph “within one hundred yards of any school house, on school days between eight o’clock in the morning and six o’clock in the afternoon.” There’s no mention about children being present, so the speed limit was in effect even if all the kids left the campus by three pm. Interesting side note: it wasn’t until two years later that they made a law requiring the posting of school zone signs.
In 1927 the school zone speed limit increased to 15 mph and changed the hours to between eight am and five pm, and in 1937 increased again to 20 mph and added marked school crossings to school zones. In 1951 the hours got cut from the law, and a school zone became the 300 feet in any direction from a marked school or playground crosswalk (eliminating the part about passing a school house). It wasn’t until 2003 that school zones again included the area within 300 feet of school or playground property rather than just crosswalks.
I point out all this school zone history as a reminder that laws change, and it’s hard to keep track. I skipped a bunch of historical changes to school zones; the law lists 20 revisions over the last century. For anyone approaching 80 years old, half of them were in your lifetime.
When it comes to the words on a school zone sign, the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) sets the standards. This is the book that makes sure the signs are the same when you travel from one jurisdiction to another. Imagine if every city made up their own design for stop signs. This book is pretty important. In addition to the “When children are present” sign, the MUTCD provides other options, including times of the day, days of the week, and “When flashing.”
The “When children are present” sign on its own isn’t great at explaining itself. I say that confidently because you’re not the first to ask what it means. The Washington Administrative Code defines it as when school children are in a crosswalk, about to cross the road, or walking along the roadway in a school zone. Under our current laws, children inside the school building wouldn’t trigger a school zone speed limit if the zone is marked, “When children are present.”
It can still be confusing though. What if it’s nine pm and kids are leaving a football game? How about if kids arrive early on a Saturday morning to ride the ski bus? Can you be sure the 20-mph speed limit isn’t in effect? While schools can choose from the signage options in the MUTCD, many of them are switching to flashing beacons because they eliminate the ambiguity about when a school zone speed limit is in effect.
Along with the school zone laws, there’s also the good sense to recognize that when you’re driving near a school, no matter the time or day, there might be kids there. The decision-making part of a kid’s brain isn’t fully developed, so it’s up to us to watch out for them and choose a speed that allows us to react to an unpredictable kid.
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