LA City Council approves plan to implement 15 mile per hour speed limit on streets near schools
The Los Angeles City Council on Friday voted to adopt a resolution that will implement a 15 mile per hour speed limit on streets near 45 schools throughout the city.
The move comes as part of a large scale effort to enhance public safety around schools after a string of incidents in recent months, resulting in multiple injuries and one death.
The unanimous vote approved the implementation of the speed limit without any discussion. Councilmembers Kevin de León, Heather Hutt, Monica Rodriguez and Curren Price were all absent for Friday's vote.
The motion was recommended by the council's Transportation committee after hearing a report from the Department of Transportation on June 14.
"This is the first installment of tactical improvements that LADOT is making this summer to enhance the safety around schools and protect school children — the future of Los Angeles," said Dan Mitchell, the Assistant General Manager of the Department of Transportation.
DOT will establish "School Safety Zone" speed limits and set up speed limit signs and markings to provide drivers with notice of the new regulations. The department says that the new reduced limit would only apply when children are going to or leaving school.
Los Angeles Police Department officers are set to enforce the new speed limit. Mitchell says that the department expects to spend nearly $154,000 to purchase and install the new signs, funds which are available within the budget for expenditure.
The Department of Transportation launched the Safe Routes to Schools plan in 2012, engineered to implement a data-driver process that will improve safety around campuses. The department, along with Los Angeles Unified School District, developed a methodology to consider a number of criteria in identifying the 50 schools most in need of change.
Because of that, the council adopted the resolution to establish 15 mile per hour zones at 11 of the top 50 schools back in 2016 as part of the pilot program.
Now, the remaining 39 schools, as well as six more, will receive the implemented speed limits.