What are the rules and enforcement limits for Florida school zone speed limits under section 316.1895?

Plain-English summary

The School Board Attorney for Manatee County, writing for the superintendent, asked the Attorney General's Office about enforcement options for Florida's school zone speed limit statute, section 316.1895(5). The office, through a Senior Assistant Attorney General, started by explaining a limit on its own role: the Attorney General gives formal legal opinions only to government officials about their own duties. A school superintendent is not the official charged with establishing, designing, or enforcing school zones; that responsibility sits with the Department of Transportation, counties, municipalities, and local law enforcement under the Florida Uniform Traffic Control Law. So the office could not issue a formal opinion to the superintendent on traffic enforcement, and instead offered informal comments.

On the substance, the letter laid out how the statute works. The Department of Transportation adopts a uniform system of traffic and pedestrian control devices for use around public and private schools, and the state, counties, and municipalities maintain the zones within their jurisdictions. A school zone speed limit may not be less than 15 miles per hour except by local regulation, and may not be more than 20 miles per hour in an urbanized area. Critically, the lowered limit applies only during a defined window: 30 minutes before, during, and 30 minutes after the times students are arriving for and leaving a regularly scheduled school session (or a scheduled breakfast program). Speeding in a school zone is a moving violation enforced by state and local law enforcement. The office pointed to the Department of Transportation's speed-zoning manual for the engineering factors that go into setting a zone, and advised the district to work with local law enforcement and the Department of Transportation to make sure its zones comply with the statute and protect students.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2012. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

This was an informal advisory letter, less authoritative than a numbered formal opinion. Section 316.1895, the Department of Transportation's manuals, and school-zone enforcement practices may have changed since 2012, including the growth of automated school-zone speed enforcement. Confirm current law before relying on this guidance.

Common questions

Q: What are the speed limit boundaries for a Florida school zone?
A: A school zone speed limit may not be less than 15 mph except by local regulation, and may not be more than 20 mph in an urbanized area as defined by statute. The exact posted limit depends on engineering factors the Department of Transportation's manual lists.

Q: When does the lowered school zone speed limit actually apply?
A: Only during a set window: 30 minutes before, during, and 30 minutes after the times students are arriving for and leaving a regularly scheduled school session (or a scheduled breakfast program). Outside that window, the reduced limit is not in force.

Q: Who enforces school zone speed limits?
A: State and local law enforcement. A violation is a moving violation. The Department of Transportation, counties, and municipalities are responsible for establishing and maintaining the zones within their jurisdictions.

Q: Why couldn't the Attorney General give the superintendent a formal opinion?
A: Because the office issues formal opinions to officials about their own duties, and a superintendent is not the official charged with establishing or enforcing school zones. Questions about enforcing the traffic statute would come from a law enforcement agency.

Background and statutory framework

Chapter 316 is the Florida Uniform Traffic Control Law. Section 316.1895 requires the Department of Transportation to adopt a uniform system of traffic and pedestrian control devices around public and private schools, and section 316.1895(3) assigns maintenance of the zones to the Department of Transportation, counties, and municipalities within their jurisdictions. Section 316.1895(5) sets the 15-to-20 mph bounds and the 30-minutes-before-and-after enforcement window. Enforcement of traffic laws generally is addressed in section 316.640.

The office's threshold point rests on section 16.01(3), which frames the Attorney General's authority to opine on questions of state law for government officers about their own duties, the reason the office offered informal comments rather than a formal opinion to a superintendent on a traffic-enforcement question.

Citations and references

Statutes:

• s. 316.1895(5), Fla. Stat. (school zone speed limit bounds and enforcement window)
• Ch. 316, Fla. Stat. (Florida Uniform Traffic Control Law)
• s. 316.1895(3), Fla. Stat. (maintenance of school zones by the state, counties, and municipalities)
• s. 316.640, Fla. Stat. (enforcement of traffic laws)
• s. 16.01(3), Fla. Stat. (Attorney General's authority to issue opinions on officials' own duties)

Source

• Landing page: https://www.myfloridalegal.com/ag-opinions/schools-speed-zones
• Original PDF: https://www.myfloridalegal.com/print/pdf/node/8140

Original opinion text

Mr. John W. Bowen

School Board Attorney

School District of Manatee County

Post Office Box 9069

Bradenton, Florida 34206-9069

Dear Mr. Bowen:

On behalf of the Superintendent of Schools for Manatee County, you have asked for this office's assistance in determining enforcement options for section 316.1895(5), Florida Statutes. Attorney General Bondi has asked that I respond to your letter.

After reviewing the information you have submitted, it appears that this is a matter upon which this office may not comment at this time. The Florida Attorney General is statutorily limited to providing legal opinions to governmental officers and agencies upon questions relating to their own duties and responsibilities.[1] Because Chapter 316, Florida Statutes, the Florida Uniform Traffic Control Law,[2] is administered by the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (FDOT), and because enforcement of Florida's traffic laws is vested in local law enforcement, this office may only comment on questions relating to the enforcement of section 316.1895(5), Florida Statutes, at the request of a law enforcement agency. However, while the superintendent is not charged under section 316.1895, Florida Statutes, with the establishment, enforcement, or design of school zones, I offer the following comments in an effort to assist you.

Section 316.1895, Florida Statutes, requires the Department of Transportation to adopt a uniform system of traffic control devices and pedestrian control devices for use on streets and highways around all public and private schools.[3] The Department of Transportation, counties, and municipalities are all given responsibility for maintaining[4] school zones located within their jurisdictions.[5] A violation of the speed limits established by section 316.1895, Florida Statutes, is a moving violation and subject to enforcement by state and local law enforcement.[6]

Section 316.1895(5), Florida Statutes, provides that:

"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."

Thus, the statute requires special lowered speed limit zones to be enforced before, during, and after school ingress and egress. The FDOT Manual for Speed Zoning for Highways, Roads and Streets in Florida indicates that the speed limit selection decision depends on such things as:

"• Age of children,

• Normal approach speed of traffic,

• Sight distance,

• Number of vehicles,

• Width of street,

• Presence of other traffic control devices,

• Use of adult and/or school children crossing guards, etc."[7]

As the manual indicates, "[h]ours can be posted during which the speed limit applies or a manual control or a time-clock can be used in conjunction with a variable message and/or when [sic] flashing signs (with yellow beacons). These signs are described in Part VII of the MUTCD [Manual], and are referred to in section 316.1895, F.S."[8]

The statutes clearly contemplate a limited, specific time period for enforcement of school zones based on the hours of the school day and providing safety and protection for students for a period of 30 minutes before the beginning of the school day and for a period of 30 minutes after the close of the school session while students are in transit. The School District of Manatee County should work with local law enforcement and the Department of Transportation to ensure that any designated school speed zones comply with section 316.1895, Florida Statutes, and afford the greatest degree of protection available to students.

I trust that these informal comments will be helpful to you. Thank you for contacting the Florida Attorney General's Office for assistance.

Sincerely,

Gerry Hammond

Senior Assistant Attorney General

GH/tsh

Enclosures

[1] See s. 16.01(3), Fla. Stat., and Department of Legal Affairs Statement Concerning Opinions (copies enclosed).

[2] See s. 316.001, Fla. Stat., for the short title of Ch. 316, Fla. Stat.

[3] Section 316.1895(1)(a), Fla. Stat.

[4] The term "maintained" with respect to school zones means "the care and maintenance of all school zone signs, markers, traffic control devices, and pedestrian control devices."

[5] Section 316.1895(3), Fla. Stat.

[6] See s. 316.640, Fla. Stat., regarding enforcement of traffic laws.

[7] See s. 15.1.1, FDOT Manual Number 750-010-002, Speed Zoning for Highways, Roads and Streets in Florida, dated 9/97.

[8] Id.