SCHOOL SPEED LIMITS AND SPEEDS IN SCHOOL ZONES

Previous research generally has found driver compliance with school speed limits to be poor, regardless of the type of school zone signing. The lack of compliance has raised questions as to the use of unreasonably low school speed limits to improve school zone safety. A study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of various speed control systems used in Nebraska school zones. One objective of this study was to determine the relationship between speeds in school zones and school speed limits. Spot speed data were collected in school zones with school speed limits from 15 to 25 mph. Multiple regression analysis of the data indicated that speeds in the school zones were influenced more by the speed characteristics and limits of the streets on which the zones were located than by the school zone speed limits. Also, on streets with normal speed limits of 35 mph, the 85th percentile speeds in zones with 25-mph school speed limits were lower than those in zones with 15- or 20-mph limits. Therefore, it was concluded that school speed limits lower than 25 mph should probably not be used on these streets.