Jefferson City police patrol school zones

Jefferson City police were out in full force Friday enforcing school zone laws.

Sergeant Doug Ruediger supervises the JCPD traffic unit. He said even though officers are heavily enforcing laws today, they are still active “all year long.”

“Our department take a very aggressive stance when it comes to school zone speed enforcement,” he said.

Thursday and Friday officers looked for school zone speed violations, bus stop violations, and child restraint violations.

There are many schools in the Jefferson City Public School district, which means there are lots of school zones to enforce.

Ruediger said some zones are more dangerous than others.

He stressed speeding is among the more common offenses during the school day.

Drivers are supposed to go 20 miles per hour in school zones when school is in session.

Ruediger explained that even going five miles over the speed limit makes a dangerous difference for a driver stopping for a pedestrian.

A driver needs more distance to stop the faster they are going, especially if they are going 30 miles per hour instead of 20 miles per hour.

“I know people just look at that as 10 miles per hour, but it could be as much as 40 feet difference if you’re doing 20 and you’re stopped doing 30,” he said. “That may be all the distance you need to avoid hitting a child.”

While drivers can get distracted, pedestrians can also neglect to pay attention, so officials stress everyone needs to be alert to avoid unnecessary accidents.

“We need to work together. Motorists need to pay attention to the pedestrians and the kids, kids need to watch out for cars,” he said. “No one wants to hit a child so watch your speed. We’ll be watching your speed and keep everyone safe.”