Counting cars: Ansbach students survey school zone traffic violations

From left, Ansbach High School students Brooke Wendt, Liena Tatum, Tyler Wendt, and their street law teacher Linda Sykes sit near Rocket Park to observe driver behavior for a class project. (Photo courtesy of Serena Alfaro)

From left, Ansbach High School students Brooke Wendt, Liena Tatum, Tyler Wendt, and their street law teacher Linda Sykes sit near Rocket Park to observe driver behavior for a class project. (Photo courtesy of Serena Alfaro)

Story by Ansbach High School Street Law

ANSBACH, Germany (Nov. 2, 2015) – Ansbach High School Street Law students at U.S. Army Garrison Ansbach conducted research to find out why many drivers get away with traffic violations in a school zone recently at Katterbach Kaserne.

The street law students witnessed several personally owned vehicles that violated host nation traffic laws as part of an observation that most German students perform monthly.

Within 30 minutes, many drivers violated basic traffic laws.

The class set up the survey between 2:15 and 2:45 p.m. Sept. 2. There were 130 vehicles that drove past Von-Steuben Strasse and Neukirchener Strasse at Katterbach Kaserne. During that time, 32 percent failed to signal correctly, 3 percent failed to yield the right of way, 7 percent sped inside the school zone and 11 percent did not wear seat belts.

The students repeated the survey between 2:15 and 2:45 p.m. Sept. 9 at the same location. Of the 85 personally owned vehicles that passed through the second survey, 23 percent failed to properly signal, 20 percent exceeded the speed limit, and 5 percent did not wear seat belts. During this time, however, zero percent of drivers failed to yield the right of way.

All these violations make it reasonable for an MP to pull over and ticket the driver.

As the students witnessed during the survey, it is also possible for children to enter the thoroughfare without paying attention.

Motorists can reduce the risk of harmful accidents by observing the rules of the road and maintaining strict vigilance behind the wheel.

To learn more about staying safe behind the wheel on or off post, visit www.ansbach.army.mil/DirectoryL.html#DriversTesting.

To learn about safety at USAG Ansbach, including motor vehicle safety, visit www.ansbach.army.mil/Safety.html.

To learn more about Ansbach High School, visit www.ansbach.army.mil/Schools.html.

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