[BikeLongmont] 25 mph speed limit proposal

[Nenad]

Hmmmmm......

I am wondering what is causing the city to consider lowering the speed
limits. Do the accident statistics indicate these streets have traffic
moving too fast? If we have problems with people getting hurt, then
obviously something has to be done. Otherwise, the case for making a
change is kind of weak.

I don't think it is a good idea to have simple rigid criteria, such as
taking into account just the character of the buildings.

I also think it is not a good idea to make rules that will not be
followed - the speed limits are often observed only in breach. A speed
limit that is perceived by drivers to be out of sync with the nature of
the street (be it never so conformant to rules) will lead to widespread
speeding.

It could be argued that such a speed limit actually decreases safety - a
few drivers obey, everyone else passes, more danger than if the traffic
moves at more uniform speed.

Regards, Nenad

On Thu, 2005-02-10 at 16:28, Richard Masoner wrote:
> I'm not certain if this is germaine to bicycling or not, but most of
> you probably know about city council's desire to look into reducing
> speed limits on residential streets to 25 mph.
> 
> City staff has proposed defining a "residential" street to be a
> non-arterial streets (i.e. local and collector streets) where
> buildings adjacent to the street for at least 100 yards are mainly
> residential dwellings.
> 
> Hence, 21st Avenue -- a 4 lane, divided road -- would have a 25 mph
> speed limit under the proposed definition. Other affected streets
> include Alpine, Deerwood, Mountain View, Lashley, Collyer, Francis,
> Gay, Clover Basin (west of Airport), and short portions of Pratt Pky,
> Quail Road, Missouri, and Sunset.
> 
> I'm curious about how the group feels about this: Yay? Nay? Yay, but
> with changes?
> 
> Richard Masoner
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