Guest Column: Slow Down on Our Side Streets
[1] Every weekday morning, I walk my daughter four blocks to her school bus stop. And every morning, I watch cars speed down our side street as if it were a highway. The posted limit on the side streets in our neighborhood is 30 miles per hour, the same as on the main roads that cross the city. That is too fast for streets where children walk to school and neighbors back out of their driveways. The city council should lower the speed limit on residential side streets to 20 miles per hour.
[2] Slower driving means fewer crashes and less serious injuries. A driver going 20 miles per hour has more time to see a child step out from between parked cars, and more room to stop. We do not have to guess whether a lower limit works. A nearby city lowered the limit on its side streets three years ago. According to that city's own traffic report, crashes with injuries on those streets fell by about one fourth in the two years after the change.
[3] The change would also cost the city very little. Our street department estimates that new signs for every side street would cost about $40,000. That is less than the city spends to repave a single mile of a main road. A small price for safer streets is one that every taxpayer should be glad to pay.
[4] Some drivers worry that a lower limit would make every trip take longer. In fact, drivers would lose very little time. The city's own traffic counts show that the typical drive from a home to the nearest main road is less than half a mile. At 30 miles per hour, half a mile takes one minute. At 20 miles per hour, it takes a minute and a half. That is a delay of about 30 seconds.
[5] Other neighbors have told me that a new sign alone will not slow anyone down. They have a point. Drivers slow down when the street itself tells them to, and when they know the rule will be enforced. That is why the nearby city added speed humps to its busiest side streets and asked the police to patrol them more often for the first few months. Our council should do the same.
[6] A lower speed limit will not solve every problem on our streets. But it is a simple, low-cost step that protects the people who use those streets the most: children, older neighbors and anyone on foot. The council will discuss street safety at its meeting on May 12. I hope you will come and speak up for slower streets.
