City councilors said today they will work to craft a proposal that would let Boston drop the speed limit on most roads to 20 m.p.h. - just 15 m.p.h. in school zones.
The measure, which would require action by the state legislature, would overturn the current system, in which the city can only lower the default 30 m.p.h. limit on specific roads after undertaking lengthy, costly traffic studies on the road.
Councilor Frank Baker (Dorchester), who proposed the measure, said 30 m.p.h. is simply too fast on Boston roads with parking and bike lanes on both sides.
Councilors said today they get more calls about speeding drivers on Boston's narrow streets than anything else.
Councilor Josh Zakim (Back Bay, Fenway, Mission Hill, Beacon Hill) noted the recent drag-racing crash on Beacon Street.
Councilor Tim McCarthy supported the measure, even though "part of what hurts the most is it's our neighbors who are speeding."
But he also cited drivers of the MBTA's route-50 buses, who he said speed down Summer and Austin streets "like they're going to the IndyCar."
Councilors noted that similar home-rule requests to the state legislature have failed, but said they hope this one would pass because it is crafted to be just for Boston, not towns where it might not be needed, such as Ludlow, where a key legislator in the transportation area came from.
"If you go 20 m.p.h. anywhere in Ludlow, you probably wouldn't get out of Ludlow for a couple days," McCarthy mused.
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Comments
They're not saying they know better than you
By erik g
Wed, 03/30/2016 - 3:31pm
They're not saying they know better than you. Quite the opposite, in fact--they're looking for the ability to lower the speed limit to 20 or 25MPH in areas where it would make a difference in pedestrian/bicyclist safety. Which they currently cannot do, even at the urging of traffic engineers, unless they do a whole bunch of studies (which in practice is so expensive that such a proposal is DOA).
20 MPH shouldn't be the default, I completely agree, but there are places in Boston where 30MPH is crazy. I live on a steep hill, with parking on both sides of a one-way street and a bunch of small kids. I drive like a Masshole in plenty of places, but when the speedometer creeps past 20 on my street, it feels genuinely unsafe. We've brought this up with BPD a couple of times, and the response every time has been a collective shrug of the shoulders and explanation that they couldn't drop the speed limit below 30 even if they wanted to.
Just because the general speed limit is 30mph
By bosguy22
Wed, 03/30/2016 - 3:40pm
Doesn't mean you can't be cited for driving 30mph if the situation (steep hill/tiny 1 way street, etc) dictates that it's unsafe to do so.
True, but in Boston
By GoSoxGo
Wed, 03/30/2016 - 4:31pm
the only time you would be cited for something like that is AFTER you hit something. Or someone. Like many others, I would much rather see better enforcement.
I often catch the #9 bus on Herald St., and it's scary watching the cars speed by (when it's not gridlocked) as if they were on the Pike itself.
EXACTLY.
By Rob
Wed, 03/30/2016 - 3:54pm
We're so concerned with the roads that feel slow at 30 dropping to 20 that we forget there are roads where 20-25 feel fast. Blanket speed limits don't work.
they will work to craft a
By roadman
Wed, 03/30/2016 - 5:53pm
they will work to craft a proposal that would let Boston drop the speed limit on most roads to 20 m.p.h. - just 15 m.p.h. in school zone
Doesn't sound like they're looking for approval to do this just in areas where it would make a difference in pedestrian/bicyclist safety. to me.
I read that as
By erik g
Wed, 03/30/2016 - 6:06pm
"would allow them the ability to drop the speed limit," though I admit the language is ambiguous. Adam, do we have any sense of how that clause is intended to read?
Point taken
By roadman
Wed, 03/30/2016 - 6:15pm
However, I took exception with "most roads". That tells me the City Council is looking to implement this regulation well beyond "select areas"
Excellent. It's absurd that
By Steve Brady
Wed, 03/30/2016 - 2:36pm
Excellent. It's absurd that the city can't set its own speed limits (or liquor license quota, etc.). Some guy from Ludlow should have zero say in the speed limit on Boston streets. Glad to see so many councilors on board already.
To those who say why bother because it won't be enforced, well shit, why have speed limits at all, huh?
I know this is a crazy concept, but some people do actually try to obey laws.
To those who say why bother
By Rob Not Verified
Wed, 03/30/2016 - 2:40pm
Bingo, that's false logic. You can make the same argument to get rid of any law really, since there will always be offenders and law breakers. Kudos to the Council on this.
PEOPLE WILL DRIVE THE SAME SPEED
By Marco
Wed, 03/30/2016 - 3:17pm
This will simply allow the fuzz to write bigger speeding tickets/ add reckless driving charges when the speed limit is doubled, which would be always. More money for the city in fines, more money for the state in re-issuing licences after them being suspended. Everything, all issues, are about money. If you think this is about safety or saving the lives of the poors who walk places you are sadly mistaken.
Just as the Ludlow health department has no say over
By roadman
Wed, 03/30/2016 - 6:01pm
the condition of an S&S in Roxbury, some guy in Ludlow has no say over a Chapter 18 special speed regulation proposed for Boston or any other community. However, safety engineers at MassDOT do have that say. And that's for one good reason - so that the regulations actually reflect accepted standards and practices, and are not enacted at the whim of local officials because "some residents wanted it." - see my previous post about stop sign proliferation for an example of how this philosophy can go horribly wrong.
Some may argue that this seems unnecessarily bureaucratic, but it actually embodies one of the basic principles of good government - checks and balances.
signs would help
By kitty
Thu, 03/31/2016 - 11:32pm
Speed limit signs would help
How about 25?
By anon
Wed, 03/30/2016 - 2:40pm
New York is 25. California is 25. If it's good enough for them, it's good enough for Boston.
this bill is meant for the
By anon42
Wed, 03/30/2016 - 2:58pm
this bill is meant for the narrow side streets of my neighborhood in Uphams Corner. Frank Baker is doing this for us, among others. All streets in Boston are technically 30mph unless, as Adam said, the city goes through a lengthy and costly traffic study to change an individual street.
My street is a favored cut through to or from 93, regardless of which one-way direction it is and just to avoid 2 traffic lights. I drive up my street at 15mph, driving the out-of-towners behind me nuts. But then I get to wave a my neighbors!
the city goes through a
By roadman
Wed, 03/30/2016 - 6:19pm
.
So, if the neighborhood wants the lower speed limits that badly, get the neighborhood to fund the studies instead of the City. But no, let's take the LAZY way out of crying to the politicians to change long established and effective rules instead without first demonstrating that the change will actually result in tangible benefits.
This attitude is exactly what is wrong with government, especially local government, these days.
Typical
By NancyG
Wed, 03/30/2016 - 3:29pm
This is typical of the blanket way of dealing with issues that is typical of the City Council. Have some really bad landlords? - impose strict new standards for registering unit (even vacant ones) for useless inspections on all landlords and ignore the ones that you already know to be the problem. Problems with speeding? - lower the speed limit on all drivers everywhere in the city and don't address the individuals or the locations that are the problem. The problem isn't those doing 20-30, it's those doing 50! If they can't enforce a 30 mph speed limit, whatever makes you think they can enforce a 20 mph one? And what do you think the impact would be on traffic - more traffic congestion means more danger for everyone.
This isn't a way to make the city safer; it's a way of increasing revenues through ticketing while acting like you're really doing something.
and then
By geep9
Wed, 03/30/2016 - 3:42pm
narrow the lanes and reduce their number. make it safe for pedestrians
We have a weird culture with
By Rob
Wed, 03/30/2016 - 3:44pm
We have a weird culture with speed limits because of the speeding tolerance that has evolved, which makes getting a speeding ticket for going 1-9 MPH over the limit rare and feel unreasonable. You see 30 on the sign and you thin, okay, this road is meant to handle 30-40, so 35 should be okay. Does 20 MPH mean tolerating up to 30, then?
Speed limits need to be changed across the board on every single road in this country to separate the speeders from normal people. Determine not what the "safe speed" is but determine what exactly "speeding" is on any given street. Once you establish that number, post it on the sign and actually enforce it to the number. No more tolerances. 5 MPH under should be the new 5 MPH over. People drive the speed they feel is appropriate on any given location on any given road, and they will do that regardless of the speed limit. You can't just slow traffic down by slapping a number on a sign.
Have appropriate and reasonable speed limits tailored to each road and each location and the only people who will speed will be speeders. Want to slow down traffic? Change the road. If "everyone" is speeding then the road is designed wrong or the speed limit is too low.
Thank you Rob
By roadman
Wed, 03/30/2016 - 6:21pm
Somebody who gets it!
speed kills, especially above 20mph
By Trump-Baker 2016
Wed, 03/30/2016 - 4:08pm
This is great, studies have shown only 10% of pedestrians die being hit by a car going 20 mph, but 50% die when the car is going 30mph and 90% are killed by motorists going 40mph. Speed kills, and in cities drivers need to slow down. I know a lot of advocacy groups have been pushing this for a long time, and am glad that the city council is finally listening. I hope Walsh signs this into law immediately.
peds.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Impact_of_Speed-large.jpg
https://www.aaafoundation.org/sites/default/files/...
Here's why only 10% of people die from a 20 mph vehicle
By Mark-
Wed, 03/30/2016 - 6:12pm
Because nobody drives 20 mph.
I would rather
By ElizaLeila
Wed, 03/30/2016 - 4:19pm
I would rather get at the heart of the issue and make earning a driver's licence more difficult through training and require added training on a yearly or bi-yearly basis. Similar to what is required of trained, licensed professionals - CEU's or LU's, but make them actual in-field physical training.
As a motorcyclist I learned that my head must be on a swivel at all times and I try my damnedest to carry that over to my 4-wheeled experience as well.
Add in
By ElizaLeila
Thu, 03/31/2016 - 8:44am
Teaching pedestrians how to be pedestrians once more. No keeping your face stuck in the wee screen of your phone. No just stepping out into the crosswalk without looking to see if it's safe to do so. Just because you step off the curb, a nearby moving car (for reasonable dimensions of nearby), may not be able to stop in time. We can all interact well and responsibly and safely, but it takes all of us to pay attention to the world around us. Life on your phone or headphones is not that important.
It wont be enforced is such a
By J
Wed, 03/30/2016 - 4:20pm
It wont be enforced is such a bullshit cop-out.
Everybody knows cops only enforce speed if it is significantly higher than the limit.
Go 42 in a 30? it will be enforced.
Go 33 in a 30? Never.
So say the speed limit is 20. Now going 33 WILL be enforced because its so much in excess of the limit.
Will people going 24 be stopped? Nope. But thats slower than theyre going now.
So yes, this is good.
Traffic Report
By E
Wed, 03/30/2016 - 5:30pm
"Northbound Southeast Expressway humming right along at 20 MPH. Northbound HOV lane - doing the same.
- John Doe, WUHB Copter..."
Why now?
By anon
Thu, 03/31/2016 - 12:56pm
Why wasn't this an issue 6 years ago when people started drag racing on American Legion Highway and Hyde Park Ave? Oh that's right because it was Rozzie not Beacon St! This is BS!
Drag racing on American Legion Highway?
By Waquiot
Thu, 03/31/2016 - 3:27pm
Yeah, that's only a six year old problem for you. I used to stumble across the drag racers back in my clubbing day in the 1990s, and I believe other visitors to this site have older memories.
A section of the Jamaicaway
By JP anon
Thu, 03/31/2016 - 11:07pm
A section of the Jamaicaway is marked as a 25 MPH limit. Strangely, it does not stop drivers from continuing to drive at 40MPH. I don't believe that being able to mark some streets with a lower speed limit will have any effect at all until the limits are enforced. As far as I can tell, they are not enforced at all on the Arborwary/Jamaicaway/Riverway, Centre Street, or VFW Parkway.
Well....
By mplo
Sat, 04/02/2016 - 10:18am
No, the speed limits are not enforced on the above-mentioned roadways, which is precisely the problem. If they can't get cops to manually enforce the speed limits on those roadways, maybe the city and state should consider installing a radar speed limit detection/enforcemtn system, like they have in parts of the Mid-west or other parts of the country.
You are wrong
By ElizaLeila
Mon, 04/04/2016 - 8:19am
I have been stopped on the Jamaicaway. On my motorcycle, on a sunny Sunday morning with few other vehicles on this road. It was the only time I'd ever been stopped by an officer on my motorcycle. (I love the g-forces on sweepers)
I was very lucky to be given a written warning.
And I've seen others stopped in the past as well. This road is somewhat patrolled and speeding is sometimes enforced.
Maybe the cop that stopped you was more attentive than other cps
By mplo
Mon, 04/04/2016 - 10:46am
and s/he just happened to notice you speeding and decided to pull you over. If that happened more often, things would be way different.
Nope
By ElizaLeila
Mon, 04/04/2016 - 12:14pm
They were sitting there just on the hospital side of the bridge over the beginnings of Route 9. They were there to pull people over where the speed changes from 45 to 25.
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