Key West The Newspaper

Dear Editor,

After forty-four years without any type of moving violation, I received my first ticket while on vacation in Key Largo. The officer was uninterested that I was from out of state and driving on an unfamiliar road.  He clearly had heard that story many, many times before.

While I was pulled over, another officer pulled over another driver. On a dive boat the next day, a fellow passenger remarked he got a ticket as well. Like me, and the other driver, his was for driving too fast. All three of us did not recognize we were in school zones. If so many drivers are unaware they are in a school zone, children’s safety is at risk.

In comparison, to school zones in my native California, or pedestrian crossing in Key West, or for that matter signs regarding deer crossing, the rolling school zone in Key Largo is poorly marked. Control lights are up high, not at street level where children might be.

The fine was $406 for driving two miles per hour under the normal speed limit. If just one such ticket is written every school day, over a five year period that is over $350,000! Surely, with such “income” money could be used to better post school zones.

Thank you.

Lance Hillsinger

San Luis Obispo, CA.