July 11, 2008
Q: I realize that school is out but I feel that this is something that needs to be addressed before school begins again in the fall. The signs for the speed limits in the school zones are not very noticeable. The signs are very small and the lettering is even smaller. I walk past The Sullivans Elementary School every day during lunch time. It seems like many of the cars driving past during that time do not seem to know that the speed limit should be 15 kph between the hours of 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Most are doing 25 kph (the normal speed limit) but I also see many doing 30 kph and above. This includes privately owned vehicles, maintenance vehicles, government vehicles, taxis and buses. The sign which posts your speed works very well, but it is ignored. Is it possible to place several high-visibility pedestal type signs stating that it is a school zone and the speed limit is reduced during school hours? I believe one should be placed before the intersections and midway along the roads (for all school zones). I have seen bigger signs in the States and at Yokota and they do help drivers slow down. The little round signs Yokosuka has just aren’t very visible and there is no other way to know one is in a school zone.

A: Thank you for your question. You identified the actual underlying problem in your observation: “The sign which posts your speed works very well, but it is ignored.” In fact, this comment really hits the nail on the head, and is the reason significant time is spent discussing school zone speed limits with all newly arriving personnel each Friday during the “Safe driving in Japan” orientation brief. There are actually three types of signs already in place to alert drivers to the maximum speed in school zone areas: the regulatory speed limit signs, the regulatory “school in session” reduced speed limit signs and the solar powered vehicle speed detection signs: “YOUR SPEED IS.” Whenever consideration is given to either installing more or increasing the size of traffic signs on the base, the expected results must outweigh the negative visual impact on the base that more or bigger traffic signs produce. With three different types of traffic signs already in place in multiple locations in the school zones, the real solution is both continued enforcement of posted limits by security and ultimately compliance with posted speed limits by motorists themselves.