A state Senate committee will vote today on whether to gut an anti-speed trap law that has protected California drivers for the past seventy-six years. Assembly Bill 564, introduced by Assemblyman Anthony Portantino (D-Pasadena), exempts his home city from the statute that now requires any jurisdiction using radar on a road receiving federal aid to use engineering safety studies to establish speed limits. The exemption for Pasadena passed the state Assembly by a 51-17 vote last month. With a tightening budget, Pasadena officials hope to be the first jurisdiction to permit police officers to wield radar guns on roads with radically lowered speed limits. According to the Senate’s own analysis, Pasadena’s primary purpose is increasing the number of traffic tickets issued, not safety.
“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,” the Senate Transportation Committee’s bill analysis explained. “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 engineering and traffic survey, this situation will likely cause more motorists to be cited for speeding.”
The bill also allows Pasadena to declare streets as part of “residential districts” — which have a 25 MPH speed limit — even when the area lacks the appropriate number of homes to qualify as residential. This modification also allows the use of radar on these streets without an engineering study.
“The sponsor argues that many of the posted speed limits are not enforceable if they were not set in accordance with a valid engineering and traffic survey,” the Senate analysis explained.
California’s speed trap law states that speeding tickets may not be issued on collector roads where a proper study has not been completed within five years — unless the police officer proves in court that the driver’s speed was unsafe for conditions. Portantino originally intended his bill to remove this requirement statewide, but he later scaled back his bill to cover Pasadena. If enacted, however, the cities of Altadena, Arcadia, Duarte, La Canada Flintridge, Mayflower Village, Monrovia and Temple City are likely to be next in line to demand the same ability to lower city speed limits.
To become law, the legislation would still need to clear the full Senate before being sent to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) whose position on the legislation is not known. The Assembly Transportation Committee expects to hold another hearing in the fall about bills to lower speed limits.
This is just one more brick in the edifice of automated traffic-based revenue, er, ticketing.
Every one of these efforts has “law of unintended consequences” written all over it. The threshold for “driving is not worth the cost” is being shifted by this as much as the unpredictable cost of fuel, the credit pinch making it difficult to purchase cars, new tolls, etc.
Ironic that we read about these efforts on the same TTAC pages as all the posts about the auto industry going under.
Fewer people will be interested in driving cars.
Is there a point where communities that have this kind of enforcement will be counted as bad places to live by their citizens?
I would think a lot of people would want to vote with their feet against such a community. I know I would think twice before moving to Pasadena as opposed to a similar community without this level of greed.
I think Pasadena is a pleasant city but would much rather live somewhere with minimal speed enforcement.
Has anyone created an evaluation of places to live that includes level of enforcement? I think it would be worth including in guides like “Places Rated” and the like. Of course some people might be slow drivers who would actually support it. Maybe it would be good to encourage communities with slow and fast drivers depending on what you prefer?
D
This annoys me the same way shortened yellows on intersections with red light cameras do. If you catch people breaking a valid law, fine, but don’t go changing the rules just to catch more people. That said, the lights in Pasadena with cameras don’t seem to have shortened yellows, so maybe Pasadena won’t do anything their improper powers. But then, why get them?
Altadena isn’t a city, it’s unincorporated LA County. They don’t even have a formal government, so I don’t see how they could be next. Dan Neil lives there. Maybe he’ll write about this in the LA Times in a way that could negatively impact Assemblyman Anthony Portantino’s career.
And to think CA wouldn’t allow radar at all on all freeways and state highways outside of cities until some time after I moved away in 1993. The good old days…the CHIPs had to actually pace you from behind, like out of an old movie. It was a fair cat and mouse game, and if you were good at spotting them, you could speed to your hearts content. I know that from experience.
I think David Dennis idea is interesting.
I’d love to see that as one of the ratings for cities.
As I’ve mentioned before, I am leaving Chicago for many reasons — one being the red light camera(s) as well as the parking meter scandal.
Awww, shit…
If it passes, hopefully it bombs in Pasadena before moving east to my neck of the woods.
A tax by any other name is… ummm… keeping the public… safe…
Yeah! That’s the ticket!
Why is the idiot in the video driving his slow-poke diesel Mercedes in the left hand lane? People are passing him on the right. I’d give him a ticket too — for impeding traffic!
Twotone
That whole “85th percentile” thing confuses me. Do the surveyors line both sides of the street with cop cars and then survey the 85th percentile speed or do they post a “go as fast as you please without fear of tickets” sign and see what the 85th percentile speed is then?
To become law, the legislation would still need to clear the full Senate before being sent to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) whose position on the legislation is not known.
I won’t be surprised if Arnold votes this down. He’s been vocal (although only recently) about not raising taxes during a recession. On the down side, he’s more worried about being popular than being right.
I absolutely appreciate and understand the point that the cameraman is making, but MOVE RIGHT if you’re going to hang out at just above the speed limit in the left lane while being consistently passed by the flow of traffic in the right lane(s).
the Senate Transportation Committee’s bill analysis explained. “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 engineering and traffic survey, this situation will likely cause more motorists to be cited for speeding.”
Well I guess the honesty is refreshing at least?
A lawyer in Santa Rosa fought and won a speeding case in court based on the 85th percentile requirement. He demonstrated that the city’s own studies showed that the posted speed limit didn’t meet this requirement.
That whole “85th percentile” thing confuses me. Do the surveyors line both sides of the street with cop cars and then survey the 85th percentile speed or do they post a “go as fast as you please without fear of tickets” sign and see what the 85th percentile speed is then?
I believe this is at least a part of the data that they are gathering when they do traffic studies utilizing the sensor cables strung across the road. I made it a point to go as fast as I could on a “collector street” near my house while one of these studies was on going. Doing my small part to skew the data. Of course there are at least 25 upper middle to upper class senior citizens for every guy like me that creep along at 30 mph or less in this 40 mph zone. Nothing like going 10 mph under the posted speed limit stuck behind a Porsche Cayenne.
Is there a point where communities that have this kind of enforcement will be counted as bad places to live by their citizens?
For 15 years, I have lived a few minutes from the City of Falls Church, Virginia. Nice place. There are also lots of nice restaurants, shops, fast food places, etc. Falls Church has an artificially low speed limit of 25 mph along state route 7 (which runs from Alexandria all the way to Winchester). This stretch is not a business loop.
Falls Church is an “independent city” (a Virginia oddity). I seldom go to Falls Church, because it is so annoying to drive there because they vigorously enforce the posted speed limit, and the speed limit is wrong for that stretch.
So, yeah, there is a cost already, and they have no way to measure how much they are losing because I patronize the businesses of Falls Church much less than I would if it were a pleasant place to drive.
States ranked from best to worst re: motorist friendliness.
NMA website.
twotone :
Why is the idiot in the video driving his slow-poke diesel Mercedes in the left hand lane? People are passing him on the right. I’d give him a ticket too — for impeding traffic!
Agreed!
And beyond that, I didn’t get the point of the video. I stopped it after two minutes.
Cities in CA are near the same financial position of the State. Desperate for income.
Pretty good nationwide speedtrap site:
http://www.speedtrap.org/
You can add any traps you encounter here.
I think he’s trying to show that no one follows the speed limit there (and therefore the speed limit is too low).
And to think CA wouldn’t allow radar at all on all freeways and state highways outside of cities until some time after I moved away in 1993
Back in the good old days, Willie Brown, Emperor of the Legislature, liked to drive his Porsche at insane speeds from San Francisco to Sacramento.
Every year the CHP would ask for radar detectors, and every year Emperor would say “no”. Then we got term limits and now our State legislature is an international disgrace.
Anyway, this Pasadena thing MUST BE STOPPED. Please write to your state Senator and Assemblyman. Don’t let California cities balance their budget with traffic fines!
ESPECIALLY cities like Pasadena which created their own traffic problems by opposing the 110 completion and AND WHO TRY STUFF LIKE THIS:
Los Angeles Times
By Corina Knoll
June 20, 2009
The South Pasadena Police Department has requested the dismissal of more than 150 traffic citations issued to drivers this week during a school bus sting.
Designed to nab motorists who violated a vehicle code section that requires drivers to stop for school buses with flashing red lights, the sting Wednesday involved two police cadets walking on and off a school bus parked on Huntington Drive near Milan Avenue.
However, the vehicle code specifies that drivers may not pass a school bus with its red lights flashing when it is “stopped for the purpose of loading or unloading any schoolchildren.”
After meeting with the city attorney, the Police Department decided Friday morning to ask the courts to dismiss the citations, which were reported earlier to be $500 each.
“We didn’t meet the requirements for this code,” Capt. Richard Kowaltschuk said.
…..
Ha! I forced myself to watch the entire thing. Nothing came of it, of course, but I did get a laugh when the guy was annoyed because “this jerk honked at me for going the speed limit”. As Bugs Bunny would say, “What an ultra maroon [sic]!!”
Dude! You’re in the LEFT LANE traveling slower than the rest of traffic! I’m surprised it didn’t get worse.
He deserves a ticket just for being in the left lane for so long and having some 30 cars and trucks pass him on the right.
Why is the idiot in the video driving his slow-poke diesel Mercedes in the left hand lane? People are passing him on the right. I’d give him a ticket too — for impeding traffic!
I was too busy admiring the interior and dash to notice. I wouldn’t mind having one……….just no diesels, please.