JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — It’s no secret that speeding is an issue in Florida. We hear stories of speedsters almost every single day. However, what about speeding in school zones? Are drivers taking time to protect our children? Or are they ignoring the laws there, too? Action News Jax got behind the wheel with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, where they say school zones are where they constantly see problems.
“You don’t need to speed in a school zone. It’s not that serious. Ten seconds is not going to kill you,” Officer Ricardo Ranger with JSO said as we drove to a school zone off Arlington Expressway.
According to Duval County Public Schools, 13 students have been hit by a car since August 2024. Three of those incidents were deadly.
Officer Ranger has worked in the Traffic Unit with JSO for years; he said that speeding in school zones is a guaranteed issue on his shift. He got out of the car and pointed to the school zone signs, “You can see they are properly marked. At 7 o’clock this morning, you are going to see that one start flashing.”ac
According to a ZenDrive study, in 2018, Florida was ranked the 2nd most dangerous state in the U.S. for school zone road safety. This year, Neptune Beach Police added cameras in school zones. The department is now issuing nearly 30 tickets daily in those zones.
Most school zones in Duval County don’t have speeding cameras. Starting at 7:00 am, the limit in the school zone off Arlington Expressway goes from 30 mph to 15 mph. Action News Jax stood in plain sight with Officer Ranger and a radar gun as the school zone lights began to blink.
“Florida State Law states that you’re not supposed to go a mile going over the posted limit in a school zone,” Ranger started, “I stop people at 10 miles over, so I’m giving you a big gap,” he waved his hands to signify the gap. “Within an hour,” he looked back at the road, “[we will] probably stop about nine to ten people.”
Within minutes of Officer Ranger uttering those words, his radar gun beeped, and his whistle blew. He waved the first car into the lot where we were standing. “Good morning. The reason for the traffic stop is speed, 13 miles over the posted speed limit,” he leaned in to tell the driver.
As he had this car pulled over, a truck flew by, going well over 30 mph. However, because Officer Ranger had a car already pulled over, he could do nothing. The driver continued to fumble around trying to find his insurance. Ranger knew that time was essential to nab another speedster, so he issued the ticket, and the driver pulled away.
Within seconds, Officer Ranger pulled over another car in a rush. As she rolled down her window, she explained her situation to Officer Ranger, that she was the wife of the man previously pulled over, who couldn’t find his insurance. “She’s trying to be in a hurry to get him the car insurance because he couldn’t show it, and she got pulled over for speeding,” Ranger shook his head. He was kind towards her and decided to let her go with a warning. That would be the only person who got a warning in this school zone.
Within the hour of standing in the school zone, Officer Ranger stopped eight vehicles. “School zones are maybe about 100 meters at a time, so if you cannot slowdown that much for that little, short distance. You got issues,” Ranger said. Some of the cars Ranger stopped were doing more than just speeding. “Two reasons for the traffic stop this morning: you’re speeding 30 in a 15-school zone. Two, you’re not wearing your seatbelt.”
Then the driver of one vehicle was still talking on her phone as Officer Ranger patiently waited for her to finish the conversation, “One, you’re talking on your phone in a school zone. Two, you’re speeding 30 in a 15.” School and construction zones are hands-free zones in Florida.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office doubles fines in school zones, but that hefty price tag didn’t matter to drivers blowing through the active school zone. In less than an hour, Officer Ranger pulled over eight speeders going more than 10 mph over the 15-mph limit. “So, the slowest was 12, the fastest was 16,” Ranger said as he looked around, “As you can see, doesn’t care if it’s clearly marked, lights are flashing, people are still going to be rolling.”
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Ranger said this is not a problem that’s restricted to school zones, but for buses, too. “People passed a stop school bus. They don’t know the rules for the school bus,” he said, adding, when in doubt, stop.
As a reminder, unless there is a median between you and the school bus, it is law to come to a complete stop when the bus is stopped, and the arm is extended.
After Officer Ranger drove away from the Arlington Expressway, we drove through a different school zone, where the crosswalk was flashing and young students were walking around a four-way, six-lane intersection. As we watched the students cross, we saw that a driver didn’t yield to the students and made a right-hand turn, giving the students a scare. Officer Ranger shook his head, turned on his lights, and chased the driver. Once stopped, Ranger said to the driver, “You saw the kids crossing the crosswalk and you didn’t want to stop and wait for them to cross?” The driver didn’t speak English very well and tried to respond.
Ranger pointed at the children still crossing the street, “Suppose you hit one of those kids,” he said as he handed the driver a ticket.
Officer Ranger echoes that at the end of the day, it’s not their goal at JSO to give out a bunch of tickets. “A majority of stops we do are not out here to write tickets. It’s to educate.”
However, the officers do not take it lightly regarding keeping our students safe and enforcing the law in school zones. In July of 2023, a new Florida bill became law, allowing camera enforcement of speed limits in school zones. Lawmakers in Georgia tried to ban speed cameras, but the bill did not pass. FDOT also has a program for schools working to get cameras in their zones.
You can tell JSO about safety concerns in your area or local school zones through the agency’s Traffic Complaints page.
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