School Zones

We live very close to both the local high school and TNT Primary School.  The school zone lights here aren't very useful, and this causes some confusion in the area.  Nobody takes them seriously or slows down for the flashing lights, which is not what I'm used to, but that's probably because they're almost never applicable when they're on.  The schools are also over a mile apart and there's no real break between school zones.  Just...1.5 miles of school zone speeds with no children in sight.  What's in between the two schools?  The county jail and police department. Because the schools are on the same street and end at different times, the county decided that they'd just turn the school zone lights on 30 minutes before one school ended...and keep them on until 30 minutes after the other one ended.  Same for school starting.  And so...when are the lights on?

The lights are on from between 2-3 hours every morning and every afternoon.  The lights are on every weekday.  The lights are on on weekends.  The lights are on during the summer.  The lights are lit on Christmas day.  One can only guess what they do with daylight savings.  Maybe they'll just extend them!

I'm used to slowing down for lights.  You know, that being the law and everything.  Plus you have to pass the police department between the schools and don't want to get in trouble... But nobody else here obeys, and I can see why.  It doesn't appear to matter much.  Oh, and my favorite part of this scenario is a little off-shoot road that apparently doesn't see enough traffic to merit its own light but does connect to the light-riddled road.  It has pretty generic rules: "School zone from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm."  School zones...FOREVER!!