Florida Motor Vehicle Statutes require that speed limits be no higher than 20 mph in school zones across the state. Local school districts can set their own speed limits. For instance, Broward County school zones have speed limits set at 15 mph.
Florida motorists are also required to take extra care in school crossing zones and be ready to stop at any moment.
What’s the Speed Limit in Florida School Zones?
Florida doesn’t allow city school zone speed limits to go above 20 mph across the state. This applies to public and private school zones. However, municipalities can set lower speed limits for school zones.
The State of Florida also clearly defines the times of day these speed limits will be enforced.
Florida Motor Vehicle Statute 316.1895:
“(5) A school zone speed limit may not be less than 15 miles per hour except by local regulation. No school zone speed limit shall be more than 20 miles per hour in an urbanized area, as defined in s. 334.03. Such speed limit may be in force only during those times 30 minutes before, during, and 30 minutes after the periods of time when pupils are arriving at a regularly scheduled breakfast program or a regularly scheduled school session and leaving a regularly scheduled school session.”
Broward County Traffic Engineering Division explains that all local school zones will have a posted speed limit of 15mph. Generally, school zones could extend up to half a mile from the school.
Florida School Zone Crossing Laws
The Florida Driver License Handbook goes into the driver’s responsibility at school crosswalks during school start times and when it’s time to go home.
Drivers should be proceeding at the school zone speed limit and on full alert for child pedestrians. They must be traveling at a slow enough speed to be able to stop at the first sign of a child entering the road or about the enter the road.
The key will be watching for school crossing guards. Crossing guards should be the first into the crosswalk and the last to exit the crosswalk. When Florida drivers see crossing guards, they must make a full stop. Vehicles should be stopped at the stop line and should not extend into the crosswalk.
Penalties for Speeding in a Florida School Zone
The State lays out the penalties for speeding in a school zone or through a school crosswalk. For normal speeders, going up to 5 miles over the speed limit would usually just get a warning. But motorists doing up to 5 miles an hour over a school zone posted speed limit would face a $50 fine.
Beyond that, the normal penalties for moving violations for speeding would be doubled for school zone violators as displayed in Florida Motor Vehicle Statute 318.18:
1 to 9 miles per hour over the speed limit — $50
10 to 14 miles per hour over the speed limit — $200
15 to 19 miles per hour over the speed limit — $300
20 to 29 miles per hour over the speed limit — $350
30 mph over the speed limit — $500
Yielding to Florida School Buses
Motorists would need to be especially cautious around the many school buses they’ll likely encounter in a school zone. They must stop in all directions when a school bus is seen with an extended stop arm and flashing lights.
This would more commonly come into play outside of school zones and school bus drivers pick up and drop off children near their homes and neighborhoods. Generally, drivers must always stop for a school bus that has a stop arm extended and flashing lights on.
However, there are a couple of exceptions. Drivers traveling on the opposite lanes from the school bus on a divided highway wouldn’t have to stop if the lanes were separated by a raised median (E.G., a concrete median). A natural median that is 5ft wide or wider would also mean drivers in the opposite lane wouldn’t have to stop.
For more information, you can visit our page on when to stop for a Florida school bus.
Earning Support After a Fort Lauderdale School Zone Accident
If your child is hurt in an accident in a school zone caused by a careless driver, you should speak to a skilled Fort Lauderdale car accident lawyer about holding the motorist fully responsible. Contact us to schedule a free consultation and tell us what happened. Let us know about your family’s biggest hardships since the accident and then let us go to work holding an auto insurer fully liable.
Allow Cowen Edwards Trial Lawyers to handle the frustrating injury claims process while giving a young victim time to focus on recovery. Our goal would be to secure the maximum in support for a child. A settlement check must cover the child’s medical care now and any care that could be needed in the years ahead.
If you need our help with your case, you won’t need to have any money to hire us. We don’t get paid unless we win your case for you. Then our fee comes out of the car accident settlement check your family receives.
