<p>I’ve never seen a police officer near the road by the local school. The road is so narrow that putting a police car on it would slow down traffic in both directions. I think that motorists generally observe the speed limits in the vicinity of the school.</p>
<p>There are at most 4 cops on the intersections so they’re able to pull you over after you pass the congested area of an elementary school. At my (or used to be my) high school there’s a strip of grass where you’re able to pull over before the ditch starts. (It’s Florida). I’ve seen a most 5 cop cars on that strip. It’s a one lane street so you can’t go far. </p>
<p>I guess from a safety stand point the speeding is bad at my high school…but no one has been hit so…they just allow you to go by.</p>
<p>I don’t think the city where I work could afford to put four police officers at an intersection for traffic stops. Even two would be a stretch.</p>
<p>Eh, I don’t think they have anything better to do at those times. There are a lot of hot spots for speeding because of the one lane streets. 35 mph is considered too “slow” for the morning rush. </p>
<p>If you get pulled over for speeding, what should you say? How should you act?</p>
<p>Our High school has 4 cops every school day directing traffic. It’s a large high school. Anyway they do pull kids over and give tickets if they think the kids are driving too fast,driving unsafely ect…
There have been nights that the kids have had football games and the police have set up traffic safety stops and checked every car for drivers license’s, proof of insurance, make sure no one under 18 is driving after curfew and to make sure no one is driving drunk. and yes it seems like when ever I have gone through the check point they have found someone who they pulled over to the side because of something they found during the traffic stop. Football games are one of the times that kids drink so it make sense to do stops after the games. They don’t need a reason if they are stopping everyone. I’m sure there are other towns do the same thing.</p>
<p>I got lost around an elementary school and was pulled over once. The officer said I was speeding, which I was not. I was going v-e-r-y slowly since I was trying to find my way out of the area, and was well aware I was around a school, and knew a cop was around somewhere. Was even looking for him to get direction. He asked me a bunch of questions and was quite hostile… Did not give me a ticket, however. I understand his being careful, and pulling me over, and actually was grateful he did. Anyone meandering around a school should be pulled over. I did not appreciate his antagonistic attitude. His attitude changed entirely after looking at my license and seeing my age and address.</p>
<p>If the OP’s son has GPS info in his phone that can be tracked back to the time in question, and if he was definitely not speeding according to that, some case can be made to drop all charges. Does the cop have reliable evidence of speed via some device? That can be an issue if there is not proof on the speed, as he had no right to stop the car for that reason without it. That he did not say he saw weaving makes me think there is. When I was stopped in VA , I knew the policeman had nothing on me in terms of speed, but weaving is a subjective thing. </p>
<p>As for school zones, the speed limit should be observed whether there are children about or not. It’s the child you don’t see that can be in danger. </p>
<p>I should get one of those devices for my car. Because I drive a junker and, in part, I have been told because I WAS young and Latino looking, my chances of being pulled over or checked out are higher. They would have been higher yet had I been male, and that is evident with my sons. They get pulled over and carefully checked at every checkpoint and randomly stopped quite a bit, the darker ones do. It is a very clear difference, as they are let go each time after the check, and no reason is given for the pull over other than it is an authorized check point. My big, blond, blue eyed, definitely older business man looking DH is always waved through with hardly even much of a slow down. I used to be stopped, but now after the kids have done their damages on me, I look old enough that I get waved through too.</p>
<p>The designated driver programs do make it a quandry for the check stops. Yes, the driver is sober, but what if the smell of booze is pervalent in the car and it’s pretty obvious these are high school kids which means a carful of MIPs. Our town has been vacillating about this over the years.</p>
<p>“As for school zones, the speed limit should be observed whether there are children about or not. It’s the child you don’t see that can be in danger.”</p>
<p>I not only observed the speed limit, I was going 4 mph under it.</p>
<p>Unless, apparently, you’re taking the driver’s license test in our town. Then you’d better NOT slow down, lol!</p>
<p>Police officers directing traffic around the hs would be fabulous. Would never happen here-- budget cuts.</p>
<p>After reading all this I was inspired to check our state laws (WI) because I was sure one only had to observe the slower speed limit when children were actually present. Well the driver’s handbook does say exactly that, but the actual statute reads that one has to go slower during the times of day when children are going to and from school OR are actually playing in the sidewalk area near the school. What a surprise for me.</p>
<p>Don’t worry too much about it. I know plenty of kids who had DUI/DWIs in high school but went onto good schools. If he’s a good kid…then that’s who your kid is. Kids will do stupid things…and hopefully this is a big lesson for him of how screwing up could be detrimental. Don’t make him feel too ashamed about it because that could be just as emotionally damaging.</p>
<p>Thank you for sharing this experience with us, and I hope that you continue to post updates. I have had my new to driving son read some of this thread and we have talked about many of the issues raised here.
I pray for a fair resolution to this for your son. Good luck.</p>
<p>Relevant article in the NY Times today <a href=“Young Drivers and Alcohol: A Deadly Mix - The New York Times”>Young Drivers and Alcohol: A Deadly Mix - The New York Times. Hope you are doing OK today, NorthCarolinaDad, and there’s no trouble from the other kids who were arrested…</p>
<p>
Madness, IMHO, unless coupled with some objective evidence of bad driving (i.e. a dash cam that records the speeding and/or weaving/swerving that would be the cause of pulling someone over). As in, 0.08 OR 0.05 PLUS not being in control.</p>
<p>How is your s doing ?</p>
<p>OP - Another community member who appreciates your post, and your informative responses. Congratulations on not being goaded into some of the tangential and emotional discussions on this thread. </p>
<p>I appreciate that you have some opinions on the laws in your state, the speeding element of the arrest, the influence of the others involved and the school’s role – but you accept your own child’s responsibility for his actions that night. While economic and emotional support that you hope will lead to the most positive possible outcome for your son appears to me to be the right thing to do, you have acknowledged the serious, and what could have been horrific consequences, of his poor judgement that night. I like to think I would behave similar to you – which I think is so hard when anger and fear are the combination of emotions that a parent is feeling.</p>
<p>In addition to the outcome for your son, I hope that, if possible, you will keep us posted on the outcome of the country club member’s children who came up with the scheme and provide the alcohol that night.</p>
<p>Thanks for asking and for the support, folks. He’s doing OK, but it’s really hour to hour. Generally if he has something to focus on that isn’t related to the incident, he does well, but he has periods during the day when he’s just depressed. What’s helping is that his final exams start a week from today, so he had lots of studying to keep him occupied this weekend. He started with a therapist on Friday and is going to meet weekly with him. My wife spoke to his girlfriend’s mother yesterday and we’re going to let them keep seeing each other. </p>
<p>I’ll let people know how the legal process unfolds here. I don’t know exactly who is being charged with what, but I know there have been 9 total arrests–the group of 8 who went to the prom together plus one boy’s older brother who bought the alcohol for them. Obviously my son is facing the most serious charges.</p>
<p>Hoping for a good outcome. Punishment, yes. Jail, no.</p>
<p>I hope you will keep us updated, NCD, on how things go with your son. </p>
<p>(As an aside, your experience shared here prompted some VERY serious and eye-opening conversations in our household.)</p>
<p>@ariesathena, why would that be madness? The majority of modern countries can’t be right if the US doesn’t use those cutoffs right now?</p>