Chicago City Council rejects bid to lower default speed limit to 25 mph
Chicago's default speed limit will stay at 30 mph, after the City Council on Wednesday voted down a bid to lower the default speed limit to 25 mph, following months of delay for the controversial proposal.
Originally approved by the City Council Committee on Pedestrian and Traffic Safety last October, the measure had been stalled ever since.
Ald. Daniel La Spata (1st), the chief sponsor of the ordinance, finally called it for a vote on Wednesday, only to see it rejected 28-21.
La Spata had argued it was necessary to protect public safety.
"Even that 5 mph difference cuts in half the likelihood that your vehicle kills the person that it crashes into," he said.
Ald. Mike Rodriguez (22nd) said, given that data gathered by the Chicago Department of Transportation has shown pedestrians hit by cars traveling 25 mph are half as likely to die as those struck by cars traveling 30 mph, he felt it's his "duty and obligation" to support the lower speed limit.
"We need to do everything in our power to make our streets safer," he said.
La Spata had argued that other major cities, including New York, Boston, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Washington D.C. already have lowered their speed limit to 25 mph in recent years, and have seen a reduction in crashes and traffic fatalities.
The alderman said, after New York reduced its default speed limit to 25 mph in 2014, it saw a 39% reduction in total traffic crashes, and a 23% drop in traffic deaths.
But critics argued lowering the speed limit citywide it would lead to a surge in traffic tickets and unfairly hurt drivers in minority communities, who already face a disproportionate number of traffic stops.
Ald. Nicole Lee (11th) said La Spata's proposal "feels incomplete" without an adequate plan for enforcing the lower speed limit without disproportionately targeting minority drivers.
"I don't want to vote against lowering the speed limit, because I agree that people should be slowing down. I just don't think what's being proposed right now is enough," she said.
Ald. Chris Taliaferro (29th) said before he could support lowering the speed limit citywide, he'd want the Chicago Department of Transportation to provide a study showing it wouldn't disproportionately impact people in minority communities.
Opponents also said efforts to lower speed limits in Chicago should not be done on a citywide basis, but rather focus on streets where speeding is a problem.
"We are not all the same in the city of Chicago," Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th) said.
Other critics said the city should increase efforts to install traffic circles, speed humps, medians, and other physical infrastructure to slow traffic.
