In case you’re driving down a San Antonio avenue with no posted pace restrict signal, the regulation units the default pace restrict at 30 mph.
However as residents proceed asking metropolis leaders to gradual visitors via neighborhoods, officers query whether or not that quantity ought to drop to 25 mph and whether or not altering it will really make drivers decelerate.
At a Transportation and Infrastructure Committee briefing on Tuesday, metropolis employees outlined early findings from a pilot program tied to a Council Consideration Request from Councilwoman Marina Alderete Gavito (D7). The Jan. 29, 2025 request requested the town to discover decreasing the default, or “prima facie,” pace restrict on neighborhood streets from 30 mph to 25 mph as a part of a broader push to enhance security.
Underneath Texas regulation, 30 mph is taken into account an inexpensive pace for automobiles on city residential streets until in any other case posted. Cities can decrease that restrict, however solely below particular circumstances — both via engineering research or by passing an ordinance that meets state necessities, together with signage and annual reporting on enforcement and crashes.
Metropolis employees stated the hassle is rooted in a easy objective: lowering accidents and deaths on native roads. Increased speeds enhance the probability of significant crashes, and San Antonio’s Imaginative and prescient Zero coverage — adopted a couple of decade in the past with the objective of eliminating visitors associated deaths — prioritizes decreasing speeds as a key a part of enhancing security.
In response to knowledge offered to council members, a pedestrian struck by a automobile touring At 30 mph — the present default on residential streets — has a couple of 45% probability of being killed. At, 20 mph the prospect of loss of life drops dramatically to about 5%.
However early findings from a February metropolis pilot recommend decreasing the quantity on an indication might not be sufficient to meaningfully change how individuals drive.
Earlier this 12 months, the Public Works Division lowered the pace restrict to 25 mph and put in indicators alongside a stretch of Kampmann Boulevard close to Babcock Highway and picked up pace knowledge earlier than and after the change. The outcomes confirmed solely marginal variations.
In a single location, common speeds heading northbound dropped from about 31.6 mph to 31 mph. At one other location, speeds going southbound elevated from 30.1 mph to 31.2 mph.
These findings mirror an identical metropolis effort from 2015, when lowered pace restrict indicators have been put in in 9 neighborhoods and knowledge was collected at greater than 200 areas. About half of these areas noticed slight decreases in pace, whereas the opposite half noticed slight will increase.
“We all know, and we’ve shared a few of this up to now, that indicators, by themselves, have restricted affect on the habits of a driver,” Public Works Director Artwork Reinhardt informed committee members this week.
That conclusion formed the division’s suggestion: reasonably than relying solely on signage, the town ought to pursue a broader, multi-pronged technique that features engineering adjustments, enforcement and public outreach and training efforts.
Committee Chair Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez (D2) echoed that sentiment, including that the outcomes replicate what many residents already expertise on neighborhood streets, noting that even bodily visitors calming measures don’t all the time produce the supposed outcomes.
“A big a part of controlling driver habits goes to be the best way that we design roads,” he stated. “However you have a look at areas the place we do have medians and bulb outs and pace bumps, and individuals are driving over the pace bumps and flying. They’re driving over medians, knocking over indicators, operating into fences.”
McKee-Rodriguez pointed to driver habits as a central problem that might be addressed via outreach applications much like the statewide initiatives like “Click on It or Ticket” or the “Don’t Mess with Texas” campaigns.
“We will change pace restrict indicators, we will add pace bumps. We will re-engineer and redesign roads,” Mckee-Rodriguez stated. “However if you happen to don’t change the best way that you just drive and the best way that you just deal with different drivers on the highway and the neighborhood that you just dwell in, nothing goes to vary.”
Council members additionally raised questions on enforcement and whether or not it’s occurring the place residents say they want it most.
McKee-Rodriguez stated many constituent complaints about dashing come from neighborhood streets, the place residents say they often see drivers exceeding posted pace limits however see little seen enforcement.
“Are police patrolling these areas? Are they stopping dashing in neighborhoods? The place are they spending the majority of their time?” he requested. “I don’t know what knowledge that might require, however I might be interested by … something that may assist us decide if we’re being environment friendly and diligent in our placement of officers all through the neighborhood.”
Alderete Gavito echoed these considerations, noting that dashing is likely one of the most typical points raised at neighborhood conferences throughout the town.
“That is what we hear about on a constant and common foundation,” she stated. “So I do really feel we’ve to do one thing.”
Past neighborhood streets, council members additionally pointed to challenges on bigger, high-traffic corridors the place conventional visitors calming measures like pace humps should not possible.
Public Works officers stated these sorts of roads would require a distinct strategy, usually involving bigger, costlier capital tasks reminiscent of redesigned intersections, roadway narrowing or different infrastructure adjustments.
Over the following a number of weeks, employees will refine the scope of a possible citywide examine, together with defining what qualifies as a neighborhood avenue and estimating prices for signage, outreach and engineering evaluation.
These suggestions are anticipated to be folded into the upcoming finances course of, the place council members will determine whether or not to fund a broader effort.
