WHITE LAKE TOWNSHIP, Mich. – The speed limit along Bogie Lake Road in White Lake Township is 45 miles per hour, but along a stretch of road there is a very unusual school speed zone sign which has drivers looking twice.
"You practically have to come to a stop to read it," said Greg Smith, who lives nearby.
The sign was installed Jan. 12. It lists six different times when drivers need to slow from 45 miles per hour to 25 miles per hour on about a mile of Bogie Lake Road near three schools.
On school days, drivers need to slow down to 25 between 6:49-7:15, 7:52-8:22 and 8:37-9:07 during the mornings and 2:03-2:33, 3:04-3:34 and 3:59-4:29 during afternoons.
"You have to take your eyes off the road to just see if you're in the right time zone, its so distracting, just as bad as texting," said Smith.
Bogie Lake Road is home to Lakeland High School, White Lake Middle School and Lakewood Elementary. The school district says the signs are for safety purposes, but it still begs the question: Why the need for six separate time zones?
"We have three different schools, all of which have three different start times and end times," said Kim Root, communications director with Huron Valley School District. "The law states you have to display the times in their specific windows, you can't block it off and make it this big chunk of time."
Craig Bryson, spokesman for Oakland County Road Commission, said the district's superintendent came to the Road Commission to make adjustments to their already existing signs. He recommended flashing yellow lights.
"We urged Huron Valley School officials to erect an electric sign from the start, but the school district doesn't want to pay their portion. With the schools so close together, the sign is not a good solution," said Bryson.
The estimated cost for electrical flashers on Bogie would cost near $50,000. Ed Harris, White Lake Police Chief, said a meeting is being called with the White Lake supervisor, Huron Valley School district and the Road Commission of Oakland County to discuss the sign and ways to reduce the cost for the school district on Feb. 21.