BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 333
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Date of Hearing: June 27, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Bonnie Lowenthal, Chair
SB 333 (La Malfa) - As Amended: April 28, 2011
SENATE VOTE : 27-8
SUBJECT : Speed limits
SUMMARY : Authorizes, until January 1, 2016, large trucks or
vehicles pulling a trailer to travel at 65 miles per hour (mph)
on Interstate 5 (I-5) in northern California, north of Woodland
and south of Cottonwood. Specifically, this bill :
1)Authorizes, until January 1, 2016, motor trucks or truck
tractors having three or more axles or any motor vehicle
pulling a trailer to travel at a speed of up to five mph less
than the posted speed limit on I-5 north of Woodland and south
of Cottonwood (i.e., at 65 mph), within the counties of
Tehama, Glenn, Colusa and Yolo.
2)Requires, by March 31, 2015, the California Department of
Transportation (Caltrans) and the California Highway Patrol
(CHP) to report to the Legislature on the traffic flow and
traffic safety effects of the increased truck speed limit in
the specified segment of I-5.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Generally sets a maximum speed limit of 65 mph on freeways.
2)Allows Caltrans, with CHP approval, to post a speed limit of
70 mph when Caltrans determines that a 70 mph speed limit
would facilitate the orderly movement of vehicle traffic.
3)Prohibits a person from driving the following vehicles at
speeds in excess of 55 mph on any roadway:
a) A motor truck or truck tractor having three or more
axles, including when such a vehicle is pulling a trailer;
b) A passenger vehicle or bus pulling another vehicle;
c) A school bus transporting pupils;
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d) A farm labor vehicle when transporting passengers;
e) Any vehicle transporting explosives; and,
f) A semitrailer designed, used, or maintained for
transport of more than 15 people, including the driver.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : According to the author, this bill would improve
traffic flow along the two-lane segment of I-5 in Tehama, Glenn,
Colusa, and Yolo Counties. Along this segment of I-5, cars
typically travel at the posted rate of 70 mph. Trucks, however,
are restricted to a 55 mph speed limit. The author cites that
the speed differential between vehicular and truck traffic often
results congestion along the route as trucks pass one another
and cause vehicles in both lanes to slow to 55 mph. The author
contends that traffic flow and safety along the route would be
improved if the speed limit for trucks were raised to 65 mph
thereby reducing the speed differential between trucks and
vehicles from 15 mph to 5 mph. As supporting evidence, the
author cites a study conducted by the American Automobile
Association (AAA) Foundation for Traffic Safety at the
University of Virginia that shows accidents involving trucks and
vehicles increases rather than decreases when speed and lane
restrictions are imposed on truck traffic.
Writing in support of this bill, the Owner-Operator Independent
Drivers Association, Inc. notes that safety studies conducted
over the past 30 years conclude that highway safety is enhanced
when all vehicles travel at or close to the same speed, thereby
reducing opportunities for vehicles to come together in an
accident.
The Surface Transportation and Uniform Relocation Assistance Act
(STURAA), enacted in 1987, permitted individual states to raise
speed limits from the previously mandated national speed limit
of 55 mph to 65 mph on rural interstate highways. After this
date, some states uniformly raised their speed limits for
passenger cars and trucks. Other states raised the speed limit
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for passenger cars only while leaving the truck limit at 55 mph,
creating a different speed limit for cars and heavy trucks
traveling on the same roadway. In 1995, the national maximum
speed limit was repealed, giving states further flexibility in
setting speed limits.
A study performed by Center for Transportation Studies at the
University of Virginia did not find any obvious relationship
between crash rates and speed limits. The study concluded that
there was no evidence to support that either differential speed
limits or uniform speed limits were more beneficial to vehicle
safety on rural interstate highways.
In contrast, the CHP reports that higher truck speeds typically
result in increased collision rates since it takes longer for
trucks travelling at higher rates of speed to come to a complete
stop. CHP notes that it takes a fully loaded tractor-trailer
weighing approximately 80,000 pounds and traveling 55 mph
approximately 323 feet to come to a complete stop. That same
truck, traveling at 60 mph would need 372 feet to come to a
complete stop and at 65 mph, (the truck speed suggested in this
bill) the same truck would need 425 feet to come to a complete
stop.
CHP also notes that according to data provided by the Statewide
Integrated Traffic Records System for years between 2005 and
2009, unsafe speed was determined to be one of the primary
factors in truck-related accidents on I-5 in Tehama, Glenn,
Colusa, and Yolo Counties. Of the collisions recorded during
this time period, trucks were found to be at fault 43 percent of
the time despite the fact that trucks accounted for
approximately 23 percent of the traffic along the route.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Trucking Association
Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, Inc.
Opposition
None received
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Analysis Prepared by : Victoria Alvarez / TRANS. / (916) 319-
2093