By Paul Krekorian
Los Angeles took a step toward greater traffic safety with the city’s announcement of new speed limits on 71 Los Angeles streets, the result of recently-updated speed surveys conducted by the Los Angeles Department of Transportation. The new speed limits will be coupled with increased LAPD enforcement efforts in the East Valley and across the city as part of the Vision Zero initiative to decrease traffic deaths.
During the recession, speed surveys for many local streets expired, which prevented LAPD officers from enforcing posted limits. That’s because the State of California requires cities to perform speed surveys every 5-10 years as a condition of setting and enforcing speed limits on local streets. These surveys measure the actual speeds driven by the vast majority of users when the street is uncrowded, along with road collision history, roadside conditions, residential and business density, and pedestrian and bicyclist safety to best determine an appropriate speed for the street.
Now that the speed surveys are complete, the LAPD can enforce our speed limit laws.