This post originally appeared at SBLA sister site Santa Monica Next.
At this week’s City Council meeting, the Council voted unanimously to lower the speed limits on twenty nine streets totaling 31 miles (and raise the limit for 0.3 miles on one other street.) Based on Council procedures, the changes require a second vote that should occur at the September 10 meeting, with changes going into effect 30 days later.
“Reducing vehicle speeds on our roads is vital to create safer conditions for getting around in our city,” Department of Transportation Director Anuj Gupta said in a press release. “It is one of the many ways Santa Monica is creating a street network that is more safe, connected and attractive for all roadway users.”
Recent state legislation granted cities greater flexibility in how to set speed limits after decades of a rigid state standard that was theoretically intended to prevent cities from artificially reducing speeds to create “speed traps.” In effect, the law prevented cities from setting appropriate speed limits anywhere 15% of drivers were already moving at unsafe speeds. The 2022 law is still based on the “85th percentile rule,” but gives cities the opportunity to lower limits in residential, commercial, school and other areas where other safety concerns exist. For more information, read the state’s guidelines on setting speed limits.
Santa Monica’s new limits came after a speed survey conducted earlier this year; this ensures the new speed limits would survive a legal challenge. The survey, conducted from January 27 through July 29, includes measurement of vehicular speeds along roadway segments to determine the speed of a majority of drivers.
Given the late hour that the motion was heard by the Council, it was well after 1:00 a.m. on Wednesday morning when the motion was heard, only Councilmember Jesse Zwick spoke about the proposal.
“I’m very excited to see these changes made,” Zwick began before pivoting to questions about enforcement of speed limits. During public comment earlier in the evening, a handful of speakers questioned why the number of traffic tickets being issued has been falling even as the number of crashes and traffic fatalities are rising in the city.
“I know from available data…it looks like traffic stops have gone down in recent years. Is that something DOT is still collaborating with SMPD on to bring back to pre-2020 levels,” Zwick queried.
City staff defended the efforts between city staff and the police department outlining the many weekly and monthly meetings they have about traffic safety.
Zwick responded that it wasn’t meetings that he was concerned with because the number of traffic stops that occurred daily were around 40 per day in 2020 but were around eight per day in the most recent data.
SMPD Captain Robert Villegas defended the city’s enforcement efforts noting that the number of traffic tickets issued has gone up dramatically in 2024. “In 2023…we had approximately 185 citations for the year. For 2024, year to date, we’re just short of 1,000.”
A full report on enforcement efforts was promised for a future meeting.
The following are the speed limit changes that will happen in October.
Reduction to 35 mph
- Olympic Boulevard between 11th Street and Centinela Avenue – from 40 to 35 mph
Reduction to 30 mph
- Lincoln Boulevard between I-10 Freeway and Pico Boulevard – from 35 to 30 mph
- Ocean Park Boulevard between 23rd Street and Centinela Avenue – from 35 to 30 mph
- Pico Boulevard between Lincoln Boulevard and Centinela Avenue – from 35 to 30 mph
Reduction to 25 mph
- 2nd Street between Wilshire Boulevard and Colorado Avenue — from 30 to 25 mph
- 4th Street between Colorado Avenue and Pico Boulevard — from 30 to 25 mph
- 11th Street between San Vicente Boulevard and Marine Street — from 30 to 25 mph
- 14th Street between San Vicente Boulevard and Ashland Avenue — from 30 to 25 mph
- 20th Street between Wilshire and Pico boulevards — from 30 to 25 mph
- 26th Street between San Vicente and Cloverfield boulevards – from 30 to 25 mph
- Colorado Avenue between Ocean Avenue and 17th Street — from 30 to 25 mph
- Dewey Street between Robson Avenue and 23rd Street — from 30 to 25 mph
- Main Street between Colorado Avenue and Pico Boulevard — from 30 to 25 mph
- Marine Street between Lincoln Boulevard and 17th Street — from 30 to 25 mph
- Montana Avenue between Ocean Avenue and Stanford Street — from 30 to 25 mph
- Neilson Way between Pico Boulevard and Marine Street — from 30 to 25 mph
- Ocean Avenue between the north city limit and Pico Boulevard — from 30 to 25 mph
- Ocean Park Boulevard between Barnard Way and 23rd Street — from 30 to 25 mph
- Pico Boulevard between Appian Way and Lincoln Boulevard — from 35 to 25 mph
- Stewart Street between Colorado Avenue and Pico Boulevard — from 30 to 25 mph
- Wilshire Boulevard between Ocean Avenue and Lincoln Boulevard — from 30 to 25 mph
Reduction to 20 mph
- 6th Street between Pico Boulevard and Pier Avenue — from 30 to 20 mph
- 20th Street between Pico and Ocean Park boulevards — from 25 to 20 mph
- Appian Way between Pacific Coast Highway and Bay Street — from 25 to 20 mph
- Ashland Avenue between Neilson Way and Lincoln Boulevard — from 25 to 20 mph
- Barnard Way between Hollister Avenue and Neilson Way — from 25 to 20 mph
- California Avenue between Ocean Avenue and Lincoln Boulevard — from 25 to 20 mph
- Michigan Avenue between Lincoln Boulevard and 19th Street — from 25 to 20 mph
- Washington Avenue between Ocean Avenue and Stanford Street — from 25 to 20 mph
Increase to 30 MPH
- California Avenue between Pacific Coast Highway and Ocean Avenue (the California Incline) — from 25 to 30 mph
