East bound on Singing Hills Road: three signs, 150 feet between them. first is a general school zone sign; second is a time schedule for when the zone is enforced; third is a blinking light indicating the school zone is operational (20 mph). The middle sign indicates that the zone is operational between 7:30-8:30 am, and again at 2:30-3:30 pm.

The county sheriff, however, arbitrarily operates the zone and ticketed my son (18, no previous driving record) at 11:15 am traveling the legal speed limit for the balance of the road (45 mph). Written as a 25 mph over the limit and double fine in a school zone, we are currently fighting a potential $500 ticket plus points plus insurance. The initial ticket was for a cost of $427 with a reduction in points if prompt payment was received–apparently the egregious offense of speeding in a school zone is mitigated by prompt payment–and by fighting it, we have incurred an additional $78 plus any court costs.

Significant points: the signage at the west end of the trap is not repeated at the east end of the trap (no operational times posted); the signage at the west end of the trap is at the top of a hill with 300 feet from the first sign to the blinking light–at 45 mph, 2.2 seconds to slow down and not be ticketed; the school itself existed for a decade without any school zone slowing as there are no cross walks or stop lights, nor any children crossing Singing Hills.

The school zone conveniently appeared three years ago–just about the time of the county (Elbert) budget crunch. Initially, there was no operational sign, and the zone was operated as an all-day affair; the operational sign was installed as recently as one year ago, but we cannot get anyone from the sheriff’s department to respond to our request for additional information.