BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 539
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Date of Hearing: April 11, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Bonnie Lowenthal, Chair
AB 539 (Williams) - As Amended: April 5, 2011
SUBJECT : Vehicles: speeding: school zones: penalties.
SUMMARY : Doubles fines for speed limit violations in school
zones under specified conditions. Specifically, this bill :
1)Authorizes a local authority to adopt, by ordinance or
resolution, double of fines for persons convicted of speeding
in a school zone, as defined, as long as certain conditions
are met, including:
a) Children are present at the time the offense is
committed;
b) Signs are erected in the school zone that provide
notification to drivers that double fines apply; and,
c) The highway on which the offense occurs in not signed at
less than 25 miles per hour, as specified.
1)Specifies that doubling of the base fine shall not result in
the increase of any associated and additional penalties,
fines, fees, or assessments.
2)Specifies that a court shall not reduce the penalties, as
provided.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Sets forth provisions governing speed limits and includes
fines for speeding violations.
2)Allows local authorities to reduce the prima facie speed limit
of 25 mph in a school zone to 20 mph or 15 mph, under certain,
limited, conditions.
3)Allows for doubling of fines for speed limit violations in
highway construction or maintenance zones, under certain
circumstances.
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FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : Existing law generally provides for a prima facie
speed limit of 25 mph in school zones when children are present
AB 321 (Nava) Chapter 384, Statutes of 2007, allows a local
authority, by ordinance, to determine and declare a school zone
speed limit of 15 mph or 20 mph, under certain circumstances.
To declare a 15 mph or 20 mph school zone speed limit, the local
jurisdiction must conduct engineering and traffic surveys to
show that the 25 mph speed limit is more than is reasonable or
safe. Also, lowering the speed limit to 15 mph or 20 mph can
only be done on a highway with a posted speed limit of 30 mph or
slower.
AB 321 limited conditions under which the speed limit can be
reduced to avoid creating a significant variation in speed along
the route since traffic studies show that an immediate and
significant drop in speeds can exacerbate traffic tie ups and
result in increased accidents and associated safety issues. For
example, the abrupt slowing of vehicles speeds from 30 mph or
higher to 15 mph to 20 mph could increase the number of rear-end
collisions or cars swerving out to avoid rear-end collisions
which could further jeopardize bicyclists and pedestrians.
According to the author, speeding remains a problem in school
zones where local jurisdictions are unable to effectively reduce
the speed limit to 15mph or 20 mph and the resources to maintain
a serious enforcement presence to curb speeding in those school
zones are limited. The author notes that in Goleta alone, at
least four schools were unable to lower the speed limit to 15
mph or 20 mph and, as a result, chronic and excessive speeding
in these school zones continues. The author cites surveys that
show, at times when children are present, average speeds of 10
mph to 20 mph over the posted 25 mph speed limit are the norm.
The author contends that by increasing fines, speeding in school
zones would be reduced.
Fines are generally set to be commensurate with the crime. The
Legislature has, however, authorized doubling of fines under
certain circumstances. For example, fines are doubled in
highway construction and maintenance areas (AB 708, Epple,
Chapter 674, Statutes of 1993), but only during times when
traffic is regulated or restricted through or around the area or
when highway construction or maintenance work is actually being
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performed and traffic controls or warning signs are erected to
notify motorists of construction or maintenance workers in the
area.
The Judicial Council annually adopts a uniform traffic penalty
schedule which is applicable to all non-parking infractions
specified in the Vehicle Code. In establishing the uniform
penalty schedule, the Judicial Council classifies offenses into
four or fewer penalty categories, according to the severity of
the offense, so as to permit convenient notice and payment of
the scheduled penalty.
Under current law, the base fine for speeding in a school zone
is set in the uniform penalty schedule as $35 for traveling 1
mph to 15 mph over the speed limit ($154 total fine with fees
and court costs), $70 for traveling 16 mph to 25 mph over the
speed limit ($280 total fine with fees and court costs), and
$100 for traveling 26 mph or more over the speed limit ($400
total fine with fees and court costs).
This bill would authorize a local jurisdiction to the double
base fines for speeding in school zones posted at 25 mph when
children are present and so long as the double fine zones are so
that motorists are notified that double fines would apply.
Committee concerns : The author's intent, to make conditions
safer for children in school zones by slowing traffic, is
certainly laudable. Nonetheless, this bill raises a number of
concerns such as the following:
This bill relies on the presupposition that the threat of
increased fines will sufficiently influence driver behavior and
infers that drivers are speeding in school zones because current
fines are insufficient to influence driver behavior. It is
generally accepted in the field of traffic engineering, however,
that effective speed management combines engineering,
enforcement, and education strategies to reduce speed-related
accidents. This bill fails to address any of these three
strategies. For example, consider the following:
a) Engineering: Drivers generally drive at the speed which
they believe is prudent and safe. Engineering solutions
such as flashing yellow lights, warning signs, planted
medians, or even curb bulb-outs are effectively used to
affect the driver's perception of what is a safe and
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prudent speed. The committee was unable to ascertain
whether or not any of these solutions have been attempted
to resolve the problem of speeding through school zones in
Goleta; and,
b) Enforcement: The author states that this bill is
necessary, in part, because the resources to maintain a
serious enforcement presence to curb speeding in school
zones are limited. Higher penalties are unlikely to curb
speeding if there is no law enforcement presence to issue
citations.
Previous Legislation : AB 321 (Nava), Chapter 384, Statutes of
2007, authorized local governments, under certain conditions, to
extend school safety zones from 500 feet to 1,000 feet and
authorized the reduction of speed limits from 25 mph to 15 mph
when approaching at a distance of 500 feet and passing a school.
SB 1227 (Denham) of 2006, would have allowed, until January 1,
2010, a prima facie speed limit of 15 miles per hour for
specified school zones in Merced and Monterey counties. That
bill would have also required local authorities in these
counties to report to the California Highway Patrol on the
collisions, citations, average vehicle speed, speed limits, and
use of specified "children are present" signs. SB 1227 was held
under submission in the Senate Committee on Appropriations.
AB 1886 (Jackson) Chapter 590, Statutes of 2001, allowed for the
increase of fines for traffic violations in school zones within
Alameda, Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties. That bill sunset
on January 1, 2007.
AB 708 (Epple) Chapter 674, Statutes of 1993, provided that in
highway construction and maintenance areas, in specified
misdemeanor cases, fines shall be double the amount otherwise
prescribed, and, in the case of an infraction, the fine shall be
one category higher than the penalty otherwise prescribed by the
uniform traffic penalty schedule.
Double referral : This bill has also been referred to the
Committee on Public Safety.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
AB 539
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Support
California State PTA
California State Sheriffs' Association
California WALKS
City of Goleta
Peace Officers Research Association of California
California Association of School Business Officials
Opposition
AAA Clubs
California Teamsters Public Affairs Council
Analysis Prepared by : Victoria Alvarez / TRANS. / (916) 319-
2093