Arizona School Zone Laws!

School zones in the Phoenix area tend to be marked with a 15 mile per hour speed limit during morning and afternoon school hours. Drivers are required to slow their speeds, if necessary, before entering a marked school zone and must keep their speeds at or below the posted speed limit until after they exit the school zone. School zone speed limits tend to only be active during school days and therefore do not apply during marked hours on the weekends or over school breaks.

15 M.P.H.

Drivers in a school zone cannot pass other motorists who are proceeding through the zone and should be extremely cautious when approaching stopped vehicles. Often, children exit stopped cars or dart among cars without looking for oncoming traffic first, leading to a potential situation where a driver is involved in a pedestrian accident.School buses are present in school zones on most days and should be given a wide berth when necessary. If a school bus pulls to a stop and activates its lights and stop signs, all approaching drivers must stop and wait until the school bus has completed its pickup or drop off of students. Further, drivers on both sides of a roadway should be alert as kids may be crossing from one side of the road to the other even if a crosswalk is not immediately present.

• The 15 mph school zones cannot be used at crosswalks that are controlled by STOP signs or traffic signals.

• The state law provides for the use of portable signs and yellow crosswalk markings, and the 15 mph provision is only in effect when the portable signs are placed in the street.

•The school zone signs are placed and removed by crossing guards or school employees under a special operating agreement between the school district and the traffic agency that controls the roadway, and can only be used for legitimate school crossing activities during a normal school day.

•Each 15 mph school zone is preceded by a permanent fluorescent yellow-green pentagon-shaped advance school warning sign showing two walking school children.

•The first portable sign placed in the street states, “NO PASSING, 15 MPH, FINES DOUBLED, SCHOOL IN SESSION,” which is located about 75 to 300 feet in advance of the yellow crosswalk depending on the non-school posted speed limit. This portable sign is placed at the location where the 15 mph speed limit begins. Furthermore, motorists cannot pass any other slower or stopped vehicles between the first portable 15 mph sign to the yellow crosswalk. At the yellow crosswalk, a different portable sign exists which states, “STOP WHEN CHILDREN IN CROSSWALK.”

-https://www.azdot.gov/media/blog/posts/2011/08/16/better-safe-than-sorry-arizona-school-zones-aim-to-provide-safe-crossings

Rules of the school zone …

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