Council’s Jan. 10 meeting focused on goals, speed limits and other business

Lowering the speed limit from 50 to 45 mph on the norther roads makes sense. While I understand the desire to increase safety, the other changes do not make sense and will cause significant confusion and a real increase in citations. Most major arterials in Mission Viejo are a consistent 45mph. These changes add random segments that drop to 40 and then go back to 45mph. Right now a driver can be safely within the law at 45mph throughout the city. These proposed changes remove that uniformity and consistency. Frankly, it has the appearance of creating speed traps. I urge the council to keep our roads fair and consistent.

What a difference an election makes.

With the addition of council members Bob Ruesch and Cynthia Vasquez to the council, we had real debates and discussions.

These two new council members are unafraid to make their positions known.

I am so happy to see the speed limits not increased, but decreased from 50 to 45mph in most areas. Now I am hoping that our police are able to slow down all those who persist in going 60+ on Marguerite and elsewhere.

But if you watch the City Council session video, you will notice that no data was presented except to mention that they are legally allowed to make the changes.

That means these decreased speed limits are not based on accident data, only on the desire of the current MV leadership to drive slower.

THAT is not the proper process for the government to make decisions. The council members should be required to review the accident data, if any, in the live meeting before they vote.

Behind the scenes, these reductions are in place to raise revenue, not to make life safer or better for citizens.

Carl,
As the former Planning Commissioner and a member of the Transportation Committee I was part of 2 planning public discussions and an additional analysis of each proposed change in traffic committee. All data including accidents were reviewed before recommendations were made. Consideration was given to arterial roads that are under construction with the freeway project and some were reduced 5 mph to accommodate increased congestion. Raising revenue by making adjustments was never a consideration

I support Carl's concerns.

Numerous traffic studies have proven that reducing speed does not change people's driving speed. The environment of the road dictates the speed by the drivers. In other words, drivers set the speed limit based on the build, or the nature of the road.

If speeds are set too low, it will create violators, criminalizing the natural speed that drivers drive.

A records request revealed that there is not any data on what is causing accidents at the Jeronimo/Alicia intersections or other intersections, yet the Planning and Transportation Commission recommended to the Council to reduce speed limits through-out the City by 5 mph.

Here is a link to the following Purdue University traffic study:

Department of Civil Engineering and Economics, Purdue University, 550, Stadium Mall Drive, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA

An empirical analysis of driver perceptions of the relationship between speed limits and safety
Fred Mannering *

Excerpt: “Properly established speed limits foster voluntary compliance and separate the occasional high-risk driver from the vast majority of drivers. On the other hand, speed limits which are set artificially low tend to be ignored and misallocate resources, apprehending and prosecuting motorists driving at safe speeds. Over time this could lead to a loss of respect for all speed limits and create the impression that traffic law enforcement and the judicial system are unfair.”

So even though Mr. Ruesch states that "Raising revenue by making adjustments was never a consideration", it certainly will be a result.

It will become a speed trap if 15% of the drivers are operating their vehicles above the posted speed limit.