Do Not Forget About School Zones!
Students studying during summer went from five thousand to more than sixty-five thousand
By: Edda Pujadas
Since we are now in summer vacation, many drivers ignore the signs around school zones, which can be a big mistake. This year, the summer school will be ongoing until the end of July, and the student body will be higher than in previous years.
Unfortunately, many students lost their pace, academically speaking, during an unprecedented year that took them out of their daily school routine. The fact that they had to take classes online, out of their normal environment and without the physical presence of teachers, has forced many children and teenagers to attend summer school to avoid losing the school year.
Figures from the Miami Dade School District indicate that this year, summer schools will have ten times more students than in previous years. In the last years, between five and six thousand students have participated in summer programs. Still, this year, the figures that the school board is anticipating are around sixty-five thousand students. It can even reach at least a fourth of the total number of enrolled students in traditional public schools.
The situation in Doral was no different from other cities. Many students were left behind because the pandemic forced them to comply with their school duties from home. Rey Valdes, Public Information Officer for the Doral Police Department, explains that the public and charter schools in our city are seeing an increase in their school activities this summer.
Valdes also expresses, “To us as the Doral Police Department, what worries us the most is the safety and physical integrity of the people, in this case logically that of the students and teachers at our schools. For this reason, we are concerned that many drivers ignore the traffic regulations in school zones.”
Rey Valdes comments that it is very common to see that people driving do not respect the speed limits in school areas during the summer, but this is a different year. There are “many more children in the streets, and we want to send out this preventative message to avoid accidents for not respecting the speed limits,” he states.
Valdes wants to remind people that the speeding tickets in school zones increase according to the miles per hour that the person is driving above the posted speed limit. For example, the fine might range between a simple warning and up to $185 if the difference in speeds is between one and five miles per hour.
If the difference in speeds in a school zone is between six and nine miles per hour, the fine could go from $144 and up to $185. If the difference is between 10 and 14 miles per hour, the fine could vary from $219 to $335. Once the speed difference is above 15 miles per hour and up to 19 miles per hour, the fine could go from $269 to $435.
Rey Valdes explains that for those cases in which the excess in speed is between 20 and 29 miles per hour, the fees will go from $294 to $485. If the difference in speed is above 30 miles per hour, the fines might go between $369 and $635.
Fines are a way to make people comply with the laws, but what is important is that each driver going through a school zone remains aware of the speed limits posted and keeps on complying with these regulations during the summertime.