BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 1669 Page 1 ASSEMBLY THIRD READING AB 1669 (Wagner) As Amended April 1, 2014 Majority vote TRANSPORTATION 15-0 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Ayes:|Lowenthal, Linder, | | | | |Achadjian, Ammiano, | | | | |Bloom, Bonta, Buchanan, | | | | |Daly, Frazier, Gatto, | | | | |Holden, Wagner, Nazarian, | | | | |Patterson, | | | | |Quirk-Silva | | | |-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------| | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY : Authorizes Orange County, when conducting an engineering and traffic survey within the unincorporated community of Orange Park Acres, to consider equestrian safety. Specifically, this bill : 1)Authorizes Orange County, when conducting an engineering and traffic survey within the unincorporated community of Orange Park Acres, to consider equestrian safety in addition to the other factors specified in law. 2)Makes findings related to the necessity of a special law due to unique circumstances applicable only to the unincorporated community of Orange Park Acres and its equestrian trails. FISCAL EFFECT : None COMMENTS : Existing law requires the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), after consultation with local agencies and public hearings, to adopt rules and regulations that prescribe uniform standards and specifications for traffic control devices, including the posting of speed limits. Caltrans adopts these rules as the California Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (the California MUTCD), which, among other things, prescribes the process for setting speed limits in this state. AB 1669 Page 2 In California and elsewhere, speed limits are generally set in accordance with engineering and traffic surveys, which measure prevailing vehicular speeds and establish the limit at or near the 85th percentile (i.e., the speed that 15% of motorists exceed). California uses the 85th percentile to set speed limits except in cases where the limit is set in state law, such as the 25 miles per hour (MPH) limit in residence districts and school zones, or where an engineering and traffic survey shows that other safety-related factors suggest that a lower speed limit is warranted. These safety-related factors, as prescribed by law, include: accident data; highway, traffic, and roadway conditions not readily apparent to the driver; residential density; and pedestrian and bicyclist safety. Based on any of these safety-related factors, Caltrans regulations allow a local jurisdiction to reduce a speed limit by 5 MPH from the 85th percentile. In cases where the 85th percentile speed is not an increment of 5 MPH, the California MUTCD directs a jurisdiction to round to the nearest 5 MPH increment. Thus, if the survey shows an 85th percentile speed of 32 MPH, the jurisdiction must set the speed limit at 30 MPH. The jurisdiction may then lower the speed limit to 25 MPH if it identifies and documents a safety-related factor. The jurisdiction cannot lower the speed limit by more than 5 MPH, regardless of additional safety factors. In instances where the jurisdiction should round up to reach the nearest 5 MPH, the MUTCD allows the jurisdiction to instead round down, but then the jurisdiction may not reduce the posted speed limit by 5 MPH based on a safety-related factor. This bill would allow Orange County, when conducting an engineering and traffic study within the community of Orange Park Acres, to consider equestrian safety. Orange Park is an unincorporated community in Orange County that has an extensive network of equestrian trails. Residents frequently travel through the community by horse, often traversing the same roads as vehicles. The community would like the county to consider the safety of equestrian users in determining speed limits on public roads within the community, but the county is currently limited to considering only the safety-related issues listed in statute. Prior Legislation : AB 2402 (Rod Pacheco), Chapter 186, Statutes of 2002, authorized the City of Norco, when conducting an AB 1669 Page 3 engineering and traffic survey, to consider equestrian safety in addition to other factors required by law. Analysis Prepared by : Anya Lawler / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093 FN: 0003107