School Zone

I was running errands the other day and one of the streets I travel on has 3 school zones: 2 elementary and 1 middle school. I happened to hit them at the time when school was letting out, so instead of being able to go 40 mph, I had to go 20mph. Rather frustrating since I had to run my errands before the boy got home, which gave me all of 17 min. At one point on this road, there is a section where you can go back to the normal speed limit. For whatever reason, my gut said don't.

I looked to my left and I saw groups of children walking on the sidewalk, going home. I noticed one girl who decided to cross the street; not at a corner where there is a crosswalk, but in the middle of the street. I watched her as she meandered across the street, looking straight ahead. She got to the island in the street, crossed that and walked right in front of my MOVING vehicle. Luckily, I was paying attention and did "the swerve and hit the brakes" manuever in time. She saw my car the moment she was in front of it, not a second before. I could tell this by the look of utter shock and fear on her face when her short life probably passed in front of her eyes. She had no headphones on, she wasn't talking to any of the other kids across the street, she just was oblivious.

Morale of this story: honor all school zone speed limits. They do save lives.