Speed Limit Analysis

Sr. Shene Monroe was on his way to school coming down Riley when he was pulled over by a cop. The cop walks up to Monroe and when he rolls down the window he asks the words every driver fears: “Do you know how fast you were going, son?” Monroe responds saying he is pretty sure he was going 55, the speed limit. “Yes, that's what I clocked you at. But that’s not the speed limit.” That’s when Monroe was informed that all the speed limits in Holland have been reduced to a maximum of 40 mph. Lucky for Monroe, the officer left him with a warning, and he was still able to get to school on time.

This has been the story for many drivers across the Holland area. Unsuspecting drivers have taken to the roads without knowledge of the speed limit change only to see flashing lights in their rearview mirror. This has been a problem for not only drivers trying to get to school and work, but for the police officers too. “The planning that went behind this was really a disaster,” said Deputy John Nickles. “The Holland Police Department was just as unprepared as the citizens of Holland when it came to the speed limit change. A city official just came into our office one day as said, ‘Hey, …show more content…
“We have been told to issue a lot more warnings to drivers, so long as they are not driving recklessly. But we will start cracking down next month,” said Nickles. Even with the police being less harsh of speeding tickets, the city's revenue from speeding tickets has almost tripled. The month before the speed limits were reduced, the city made an average of $250,000 off of speeding tickets every month. This month, though, the city has made $700,000. This number is expected to rise even higher during the next few months as police become more strict about the speed limits, and then level off in a year as drivers adjust to the new speed