BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: AB 564
SENATOR ALAN LOWENTHAL, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: portantino
VERSION: 5/14/09
Analysis by: Jennifer Gress FISCAL: no
Hearing date: June 23, 2009
SUBJECT:
Speed traps: local streets or roads
DESCRIPTION:
This bill changes the definition of a local street or road for
purposes of setting and enforcing prima facie speed limits in
the City of Pasadena.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law establishes what are referred to as "prima facie"
speed limits for specified circumstances and types of roadways,
as follows:
15 mph when traversing a railway grade crossing, when crossing
an intersection of highway if view is unclear or obstructed,
or when driving in an alley.
25 mph on any highway other than a state highway that is in
any business or residence district, in a school zone, or in an
area with facilities primarily used by senior citizens.
A residence district is defined as a portion of highway and the
property contiguous thereto upon which there are 13 or more
separate residential or business structures on contiguous
property fronting one side of the highway or 16 or more such
structures on both sides within a -mile distance.
Existing law permits the California Department of Transportation
(Caltrans) and local agencies to change these speed limits if
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done so in accordance with an engineering and traffic survey
(ETS). An ETS measures prevailing vehicular speeds and
safety-related factors including accident records and highway,
traffic, and roadside conditions not readily apparent to the
driver. Local authorities may also consider such factors as
pedestrian and bicyclist safety and residential density.
A speed limit is generally set at or near the 85th percentile of
the prevailing speed (i.e., the speed which is exceeded by 15
percent of motorists) as measured by an ETS, unless
safety-related factors suggest a lower speed limit is
appropriate. In cases where the 85th percentile speed is not an
increment of 5 mph, a jurisdiction rounds the speed limit to the
closest 5 mph increment. Thus, if the survey shows an 85th
percentile speed of 34 mph, the speed limit will be set at 35
mph. The California Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices
(MUTCD) specifies that a jurisdiction may lower that speed limit
by 5 mph (i.e., to 30 mph in the example) if safety-related
factors suggest that a lower speed is warranted. The
jurisdiction cannot, however, lower the speed limit by more than
5 mph, regardless of additional safety factors.
A "speed trap," which is prohibited under existing law, is
defined as either of the following:
A particular section of a highway of a measured distance with
boundaries marked, designated, or otherwise determined so that
law enforcement may calculate the speed of a vehicle by
measuring the time it takes the vehicle to travel the known
distance.
A particular section of a highway with a prima facie speed
limit, if that prima facie speed limit is not justified by an
ETS conducted within five years prior to the date of the
alleged violation and enforcement of the speed limit involves
the use of radar or any other electronic device that measures
the speed of moving objects.
The definition of a speed trap does not apply to local streets
and roads. In other words, existing law allows radar to be used
to provide evidence of unsafe speed on local streets and roads,
even if the speed limit is not justified by an ETS.
A local street or road is defined by the latest functional usage
on the federal functional classification system submitted by
Caltrans to the Federal Highways Administration (FHWA). Where a
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map has not been submitted or when the street or road is not
included, a local street or road means a street that primarily
provides access to abutting residential property and meets the
following three conditions:
The roadway does not have a width greater than 40 feet.
The roadway does not have more than one-half of a mile of
uninterrupted length, including traffic signals.
The roadway does not have more than one traffic lane in each
direction.
This bill provides that, for the City of Pasadena, a local
street or road may be defined as a street or road within a
residence district if the roadway does not have a width greater
than 40 feet, does not have more than one-half of a mile of
uninterrupted length, and does not have more than one traffic
lane in each direction, even if the highway segment is
functionally classified as something other than a local street
or road.
COMMENTS:
1.Purpose . The City of Pasadena, the sponsor of this measure,
would like to establish lower speed limits on some of its
residential streets that are currently classified as
collectors and arterials and not as local. In some cases,
this means lowering an existing speed limit by 5 mph; in
others, it means not increasing it 5 mph in accordance with
the results of an ETS. In either case, the problem,
according to the City of Pasadena, is that a lower speed limit
would not be enforceable because the lower speed limit is not
justified by an ETS and could constitute a speed trap. Local
streets and roads, however, are exempt from the speed trap
law. To allow for lower speed limits not justified by an ETS
for which radar may be used, this bill changes the definition
of a local street or road to accommodate certain road segments
in the City of Pasadena. The author contends that this bill
is narrowly tailored and gives the City of Pasadena the
flexibility to set appropriate prima facie speed limits within
their residential neighborhoods.
2.Federal functional classification system . Functional
classification is the process by which streets and highways
are grouped into classes, or systems, according to the
character of traffic service that they are intended to
provide. There are three functional classifications for roads:
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arterial, collector, and local. All streets and highways are
grouped into one of these classes, depending on the character
of the traffic (i.e., local or long distance) and the degree
of land access that they allow. Local roads consist of all
roads not defined as arterials or collectors and primarily
provide access to property with little or no through movement.
The functional classification system is used, in part, to
establish design standards for each type of road.
Process to amend map. If a classification no longer applies
to a road segment, there exists a process for amending the
federal functional classification map. This process involves
four steps:
Step 1. Local Jurisdiction submits the following to the
Caltrans district coordinator:
"Functional Classification Change Request Form;"
Marked-up California Road System Map showing
changes;
Resolution from the city or county, as appropriate;
and
Concurrence letter from metropolitan planning
organization or regional transportation planning agency,
as appropriate.
Step 2. Caltrans district coordinator reviews and writes a
district concurrence letter.
Step 3. Caltrans headquarters presents the proposed changes
to the Federal Highways Administration for approval.
Step 4. The approved maps are posted on the internet. The
Caltrans district coordinator is notified.
Loss of transportation dollars. Arterial and collector roads
are considered part of the federal-aid highway system and thus
are used to calculate a local jurisdiction's share of federal
gasoline tax dollars. Re-classifying a road segment from
arterial or collector to local will result in the loss of some
federal funds, though the precise amount is unknown, an
outcome that the City of Pasadena is attempting to avoid. If
the road segments targeted by this bill are truly local
streets and roads, as the author and sponsor contends, is it
fair for the city to use these roads for the calculation of
gas tax dollars, which reduces the overall amount of gas tax
funding available to other cities and counties?
AB 564 (PORTANTINO) Page 5
3.Problem of perception, creating a speed trap . When asked if
there were a safety issue associated with speed on these
streets, the City of Pasadena was not able to provide evidence
that there was a higher collision rate, or any other type of
incident that would indicate a safety problem, on what would
be "local" roads under this bill relative to local roads
defined in the traditional manner. It appears that the
residents simply prefer a lower posted speed limit. Posting a
lower speed limit, however, is not likely to slow traffic
down. The 85th percentile has long been used as the standard
for setting speed limits because experience has shown that the
majority of people drive at a speed that feels safe for the
conditions. If the conditions do not change on the roadway,
drivers will continue to drive at their current speed.
Because this bill allows for radar enforcement on segments
that were not justified on the grounds of an ETS, this
situation will likely cause more motorists to be cited for
speeding. The committee may wish to consider whether it is
appropriate to create what could be, in effect if not in
statute, a speed trap for the residents of the City of
Pasadena.
4.No statewide standard . This bill establishes special
considerations for the streets of Pasadena that other cities
will not be able to access. Under this bill, the state will
begin to allow highway segments, similar with respect to their
functional classification, to have different rules for
enforcing speed limits. The committee may wish to consider
whether standards for speed enforcement ought to be the same
for each type of highway segment in all areas of the state.
5.Redefining residence district . This bill provides that a local
street or road may be defined as a street or road within a
residence district if it meets specified conditions. In other
words, in addition to changing the definition of a local
street or road in the City of Pasadena, this bill changes the
definition of a residence district for Pasadena. This is an
important distinction as a residence district has a prima
facie speed limit of 25 mph, which, as a local street or road,
can be enforced by radar without an ETS to justify the speed.
This bill allows for that 25 mph speed limit and radar
enforcement even if the road segment does not have the
requisite number of residential units to qualify under law as
a residence district?
AB 564 (PORTANTINO) Page 6
6.Enforceability . The sponsor argues that many of the posted
speed limits are not enforceable if they were not set in
accordance with a valid ETS. Posted speed limits that were
not established with an ETS are in fact enforceable, just not
through the use of radar, provided that the law enforcement
officer demonstrates that the driver was driving at a speed
unsafe for conditions.
7.Revised process for setting speed limits . In 2004, Caltrans
changed the procedure for determining the 85th percentile.
Currently the procedure involves rounding to the closest 5 mph
increment, which in some cases requires an agency to round up
to the next highest increment. Prior to 2004, the procedure
allowed rounding up or down to the next 5 mph increment even
if that increment was not closer to the prevailing speed. It
was this revision that prompted the City of Pasadena to
conduct ETS's on several of its road segments, which indicated
that 5 mph increases in the speed limits were justified. The
Pasadena City Council has resisted adopting the change in
speed limits on these streets and is pursuing this bill, in
part, so that the currently posted speed limits may remain as
they have been. An alternative to this bill, subject to
further exploration, may be to require Caltrans to adopt its
previous procedure for setting speed limits.
8.Joint hearing on speed limits . Due to the number of bills
introduced regarding speed limits on residential streets and
questions about the revised process for setting speed limits,
the Assembly Transportation Committee and this committee are
likely to hold an informational hearing on speed limits this
fall. The committee may wish to consider holding this bill
pending findings from this joint hearing.
RELATED LEGISLATION
SB 570 (Maldonado) would have established a prima facie speed
limit of 40 mph for any roadway where the residential density is
eight residential units or more fronting the street. This bill
was amended in this committee to require Caltrans to study the
issues presented by the bill. The bill was subsequently held in
the Senate Appropriations Committee.
AB 766 (Krekorian) would have allowed a local authority to
retain a prima facie speed limit on any street, other than a
state highway, if the local authority made a finding that a
higher speed limit was not the most appropriate for the orderly
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movement of traffic and did not promote a safe environment for
the neighborhood or pedestrians. Died in the Assembly
Transportation Committee without being heard.
Assembly Votes:
Floor: 51-7
Trans: 8-3
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the Committee before noon on
Wednesday,
June 17, 2009)
SUPPORT: City of Pasadena (sponsor)
Peace Officer's Research Association of
California
OPPOSED: California Teamsters Public Affairs Council