BUFFALO, N.Y. — Buffalo city leaders have a plan to crack down on speeding through school zones with a law that would lower the speed limit there and enforce it.
The city speed limit is 30 mph. Near schools you may see 15 mph signs.
But drivers don't actually have to follow these signs because there's no law on the books that says they have to.
So city lawmakers want to change that with a law that would let police pull over anyone going over 15 mph outside schools.
They've talked about it for months and did again during the Common Council's Legislative Committee meeting Tuesday.
Council member Joel Feroleto is the one who proposed the law.
Some people may wonder how come Buffalo didn't have a slow speed limit around schools.
"I have not been given any type of reason why it wasn't implemented in the past, or why it hadn't existed before, but once I was made aware of it, I made sure to introduce a law to change that," Feroleto said.
The next step is for Common Council to approve the law.
Feroleto expects that to happen next week.
Then individual schools need to decide when, during the school day, they want the new speed limit of 15 mph to be enforced.
The city engineer says they could have it in place during the entire school day, or just during arrival and dismissal.
Buffalo schools called this overdue, saying reckless driving around schools is on the rise.
Feroleto says there will be public meetings about this in the next couple of months so they can figure it out before the next school year.
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