In many areas the school zones are a joke. In lakewood they have a zone for a private school located in church. I believe the speed limit is a 8:00 to 5:00 deal, but it most certianly is not when children are present, because.... the funny thing is, I have never seen a kid in the area. I wouldn't be surprised to see that fewer than 100 kids attend and doubt it is higher than 30. For the neighborhood it is in, I would also be surprised if any of the children do walk home, but on that I could be wrong. If I remember right they had made over $400,000 in tickets at that school alone. (I would love it if anyone had the full number).

I would be ok with the fees if they just made the jurisdictions show that every cent made went directly into safety programs for the schools. No reason not to. With cameras there is no expense after the cost of the contract.

The fact is, the whole thing is about money. I asked what happens if an officer gets caught. If he is not on a call they will write him a repremand. Wow. Didn't know the law was only for some people.

In case you are wondering, yes I did get a ticket in Lakewood. Every major street in town has a school zone on it, you just can't usually see the school. Now they have flashing signs at most, so there really is no excuse, but I got a $480 ticket for going 36 (35 zone). Its a five lane road with a 100 yard school zone for a school you can't see. The sign at the time was pushed up against a shrub about 50 feet past a lighted intersection. When I pulled up to the light there was a semi trailer and 2 school busses at the light. When the light changed I pulled around them and drove up past them on the inside lane. As I passed the semi an officer hit me with the radar. By then I was past the enterance to the school you couldn't see and there was no possible way to see the school zone sign unless you knew it was there. None! But, in Washington state there is no mitigation for school zones. Prove you didn't do it or pay the entire amount.


On a side note.,.. One of the proudest day's I ever had was when I went to court and showed the judge they hadn't validated there radar guns. One by one he started dismissing tickets. In the half hour there I watched over $10,000 in tickets tossed out. I comptimplated showing up every day for a couple of weeks but decided I had had enough fun.