CLEARLAKE, Calif.–The Clearlake City Council last Thursday accepted the latest city speed zone study.
The study was completed by traffic engineer Phil Dow of the Lake County Area Planning Council (APC).
Performance of the study is required every five years in accordance with California Vehicle Code. The city's last study was completed in 2008.
Dow said the study is mandatory to support the proper traffic enforcement of speed limits within the city.
The study specifically includes consideration of prevailing speeds as determined by traffic engineering measurements; accident records; and highway, traffic and roadside conditions not readily apparent to the driver.
Prevailing speed is considered to be that speed at and below which 85-percent of sampled vehicles travel. Dow said this is typically the speed limit that is selected unless records indicate that the speed limit should be adjusted downward or unless there are roadway conditions that indicate otherwise.
Concern for the possible use of "speed traps" to generate city revenues led to a statewide committee review that resulted in the implementation of new guidelines in 2009.
Dow said the effect of the guidelines' adjustment is a reduction in latitude afforded professional judgment.
He said in some instances the implementation of the new guidelines can result in a 10 mile per hour increase in the recommended speed limit given the same data under the old rules.
There is now more reliance on the 85th percentile speed and the recommended speed cannot be less than 5 miles per hour of the monitored 85th percentile speed, he said.
"The issue I have with the new policy is that it is too restrictive," Dow said.
Dow said the guidance is likely to be applicable within a system of engineered highways that are built to modern standards.
However, he added, it is not applicable to rural areas that have roads with limited right-of-way, are narrow, lack shoulders, have numerous obstacles, lack pedestrian features and have sight distance limitations due to horizontal and vertical curvature.
"Regardless," Dow said, "California is urban-dominated and we sometimes have to live with policies developed in an urban-dominated viewpoint."
Dow said because of the five-year cycle, the 2013 Speed Zone Study is the first one completed after issuance of the new guidelines.
As a result, he said, several city streets are recommended for speed increases.
Those proposed increases included raising the speed from 30 to 35 miles per hour for 40th Avenue from Highway 53 to Wilkinson, Austin Road from Redwood to Old Highway 53, Burns Valley Road from Rumsey to Arrowhead, and Moss Avenue from 40th to Davis; from 35 to 40 miles per hour for Dam Road from Dam Road Extension to Lake; and from 25 to 30 miles per hour for Lakeshore Drive from Olympic to Old Highway 53.
While all members of the council expressed reluctance in increasing any speed limits within the city, the study, including recommendations was accepted unanimously.
"We have to accept these (recommendations) or our speed limits are not enforceable," Vice Mayor Gina Fortino Dickson said.
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