Different demographics, our county is not having budget issues, it works here, and yes EVERY school zone should have the flashing lights when kids are around…
This is only about cameras vs uniforms present during crossing guard times…
Road can be widened with shoulders, if the road is only 2 lanes with traffic, speeders can’t speed anyway…
Every place is different and has do what works for them… MAIN thing is keeping the kids safe… My question was only what is the cost and long term cost of the cameras including the staff sending out the tickets, there is a lot of hidden cost involved, and again, we have plenty of police here in my part of the world anyway… If they have to hire or pay a 3rd party business to handle all this stuff, it might be cheaper to hire more police… After all, how long are crossing guards there, 30-45 minutes twice a day??
Not only are the cameras cheaper than a human officer and all their equipment, there are companies that provide this service so there is absolutely no cost to the municipality. All for the low, low price of 60-80% of the fines imposed. So the municipality doesn’t have any capital investment, no maintenance costs and very little administrative costs while collecting 20-40% of the fines imposed…
Not in all cases. In my town, there are so many historic homes and “protected” farms–plus state parkland–that widening some of the roads is not legally possible.
As the OP, I want to make it clear that the cost of installing and maintaining the School Zones Speed Cameras are a moot point, they cost the county and taxpayers nothing. They are installed and maintained by an independent contractor and they get a cut of the fines accessed. And as far as I am concerned, this is a Win-Win-Win-Win situation. It costs the county nothing and they do not have to labor over what program(s) might get cut to afford the cameras; the taxpayers do not find a “special assessment” against their property; the Kids are less likely to be put at risk; and it provides a new revenue source for the county from people that I would prefer not be on the roads to begin with… Those who are so busy, busy, busy; those who are so much in a rush that they think their time is of greater value than the health and welfare of other people around them…
However, to be clear, I do not approve of mobile speed cameras and stop light cameras that are independent contractor installed and maintained in general… Many times the Yellow light time on Stop Light Cameras is shortened to catch more folks and can lead to more rear end collisions caused by folks who stop short rather than risk running a Red Light. And having to challenge the accuracy of a Mobile Speed Cameras that get surreptitiously placed to catch unsuspecting motorists just driving along with the flow of traffic…
Many times the local municipalities look at these revenue streams and think “Jack Pot…”
Thank you, that is all I was asking about… Sounds like a win to me also then…
I just know that the government in general, no matter who is in office, is not exactly known for spending money wisely, and tax payers have to flip the bill over it…
I presume you are being facetious. The issue is whether to issue a fine on the first offense or to issue a warning ticket on the first offense, then issue a ticket w/a fine if there’s a second offense, meaning the warning ticket was simply ignored. Do you think fines should be issued on the first offense, with no warning ticket? The plan as described issues warning tickets to everybody for 30 days. Do you think that idea should be scrapped and fines issued to everyone from day one?
I think you are misinterpreting what I said above. To be clear, I prefer a strong enforcement of the school zone speed limit, but that the first offense be only a warning ticket. Second+ offenders are the drivers that get the big fine. My guess is that 90% or more drivers who get the first warning will not re-offend.
No dispute that a driver who is aware of this policy may think they can breeze-by with a first-time warning, ignore the limit, drive too fast, & might kill a student.
My comment is based on what I see & hear in the local area business news, comments from the local retail establishment, especially local area restaurants. There’s no doubt there are some big Covid winners in retail too, online retail & the like. Folks still need to buy stuff, but the question remains: where are they are buying it? i.e. are the products still being purchased from local retail stores in the same amounts as before Covid? This data seems hard to find for some reason. Do you have any data on in-restaurant sales for example?
Elementary, then Middle, then high school all have different start and end times, same busses transport all three but at different times in that order for both morning and afternoon times, so sounds about right… In my little part of the world anyway… Our signs just don’t have the AM/PM times on them, but it would be a great idea…
Smaller schools will double up on either the elementary and middle, or middle and high school for the ride, but still different school time zones, even when all 3 are on the same campus…
Somehow I think you already new all that, and was just asking about the signage itself… lol
That sign is a fake, it was not an official sign, it must have been put up by someone with a strange sense of humor…
Below is the new article and telecast from White Lake Township, Michigan in 2012. The Foster’s Daily Democrat, and their local TV station WDIV, Channel 4…
Here is the link for the webpage. Scroll down to the bottom under "Monthly Retail Trade Report - June 2024. There is an Excel spreadsheet that shows monthly sales all the way back to 1992.
Sales are reported based on NAICS code. “Restaurants and other eating places” (NAICS 7225) sales are:
I’m sure that includes both full service in-restaurant dining and quick-serve restaurants. When was the last time you saw a news report that said restaurants have seen 19% annual growth from 2021-2023 over pre-pandemic levels? A local news report or the opinions of a single restaurant do not accurately reflect what’s happening around the country. I’m not saying there aren’t businesses that are struggling but there have always been businesses that struggle and fail. IMO, it is the responsibility of the business owner to figure out how to make it work. As someone that has started and sold 5 businesses, I don’t take the struggle of business owners lightly. But, when you go into business for yourself, that’s what you sign up for.
That may be true to some extent, but the fact remains that California’s economy is significantly larger than that of the entire nation of Russia. California’s economy remains in the #5 position in the world, outranking most nations.
