How Communities are Slowing Down

Sara Wright & Scott Bricker

February 2012
Communities around the United States are addressing the problem of speed on their streets in a
variety of ways. Every communitys problems and solutions are different, but there are some
general approaches that resonate across the country. The following stories were chosen to
provide examples of how these approaches are being used to increase the safety of all road
users in American communities.
Four Ways to Slow Things Down
1. Change the Driver
2. Change the Street
3. Change the Posted Speed
4. Change the Laws that Govern Posted Speed
1. Change the Driver
At the neighborhood and community level, outreach and education between neighbors can be
helpful in increasing traffic safety, particularly in reducing speeding. Most tickets and crashes
take place close to home, and many speeders live in the neighborhoods in which they are
speeding. Education campaigns can include presentations to community groups, door-to-door
visits, stickers and yard signs, and asking people to pledge to drive a certain speed. These
programs can be effective at reducing speeds locally by normalizing slower driving.

Oro Valley, Arizona: Neighborhood-Level Outreach to Reduce Speeds

The Keep Kids Alive Drive 25 program, which includes yard signs and stickers, has been
adopted by a number of communities. In Oro Valley, Arizona, a police officer secured a
small grant for traffic safety, and used it to purchase decals from Keep Kids Alive Drive
25. The stickers were placed on residential waste containers in an Oro Valley
neighborhood, so that every week when the containers were brought out to curbside,
residents would be reminded to drive safely in their own and other neighborhoods. The
85th percentile speed in neighborhoods streets dropped from 29 mph to 25 mph after the
stickers were deployed, and the city decided to start distributing stickers for free.
2. Change the Street
American roads are often over-engineered, or designed to accommodate higher speeds that are
not only faster than the posted speed limit, but faster than is appropriate for the area.

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Communities that are concerned about traffic speed can address this issue in a variety of ways,
depending on resources, political will, and neighborhood preferences. Slowing things down
requires aligning the design speed (the speed that vehicles can navigate the street without
losing control) with the desired driving speed, the speed that makes sense for the context of the
street.
Change the Street to Slow Down Drivers
Encouraging motorists to choose slower speeds is often a long-term project. Methods can
include traffic calming treatments, enforcement, or even changing the local land uses. All of
these methods generally require action by your municipality and local transportation agency, so
the best approach for community activists is to start building a relationship with these agencies
and work with staff with oversight on your issues.
Advocates working with local agencies typically consider a variety of traffic calming methods,
and it is helpful to learn the basic tools of traffic calming. The Complete Streets website is very
useful source of information about making streets comfortable for all users. Traffic calming
includes measures that physically signal (and force) drivers to slow down, often by narrowing
the street, or creating obstacles that cars must navigate around (chicanes) or over (speed
humps). Traffic calming does not include stop signs or traffic signals, as these are not effective
tools to slow down traffic - they can be ignored, and they can also create dangerous situations
where drivers accelerate rapidly between them. There are many excellent organizations and
resources with information about the effectiveness, cost, and best uses of a wide variety of
traffic calming tools.

Traffic Calming: State of the Practice, Institute of Traffic Engineers, 1999

Traffic Calming Library, Institute of Traffic Engineers

Traffic Calming 101, Project for Public Spaces

Trafficcalming.org

Pedestrian and Bicycle Facilities in California, Alta Planning+Design

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Working to change traffic speeds in a larger area, or a zone, rather than on just one street is an
effective way to make your community safer and to encourage widespread change in the way
people drive. In Europe, many cities have established 20-mph zones, with success in reducing
injuries and fatalities, and in late September, 2011, the EU Transport and Tourism Committee
on improving road safety in Europe recently recommended setting a 20mph speed limit for
residential areas
Claremont Neighborhood, New York City, New York: Piloting Slow Zones
The New York City Department of Transportation is piloting a Slow Zone in the Bronx,
to assess whether the model is appropriate for the City. The approach is modeled on
Londons 20-mph zones, which have been successful in reducing average speeds,
fatality crashes, and serious injury crashes. The goal of the program is to increase
pedestrian safety, reduce cut-through traffic and traffic noise, and make streets more
welcoming for residents. The pilot neighborhood, Claremont in the South Bronx, was
chosen for a variety of reasons, including high injury rates, number of schools, transit
access, and clear neighborhood boundaries. The treatments include signs at
neighborhood gateways, speed limit signs, speed humps, and speed limit markings on
the street. The pilot is being implemented during the summer and fall of 2011. Once the
pilot is wrapped up, communities will be able to apply to the slow zone program. This will
allow for area-wide approaches to traffic calming, rather than case-by-case solutions. At
least four communities have already expressed strong interest.
Contact: Rob Viola, Office of Research, Implementation, and Safety, New York City
Department of Transportation
Consider Short-term or Temporary Solutions to Get Things Started
Many communities road user safety problems require the investment of substantial resources
and time. Often, traffic safety advocates work on longer-term solutions while also making some
short-term or temporary changes. One way to slow traffic is simply to make the street a more
active place, more engaging and challenging for drivers to navigate. If you can get your
community out on the roadway, it can immediately change driver behavior. Typically, these
approaches are small-scale, but also intended to build community and to demonstrate an
alternative model for how to use the space. There are some great examples of fun, communitybuilding, traffic-slowing activities out there, and new ones are popping up every day.

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Dallas, Texas: Build a Better Block

The Build a Better Block project began in Dallas, Texas, in the Oak Cliff neighborhood. A
local organization led a volunteer effort to temporarily take over a block of a street that
was plagued by vacant storefronts. The goal was to demonstrate that the street, with
some changes, could be a much more vibrant place, and that there was a local demand
for businesses if the street was more welcoming. They changed the street space by
adding big bike lanes, street furniture and planters (but allowing one lane of car traffic
through, to demonstrate that this was a viable day-to-day way to operate the street, not
just a one time street fair). They also worked with property owners and local
entrepreneurs to create pop-up shops in vacant storefronts, and brought in local artists
to fill the street with music and art. The event was very popular, demonstrating the
economic and social potential of the area, and several of the storefronts were leased
after the event. The City of Dallas has committed to making roadway improvements to
improve the pedestrian and bicycle environment in the area where the event took place.
The organizers of the first Better Block event have built on that success, and now offer
advice and support for other communities wishing to have their own events. The events
have similar basic structures; they are quickly planned and executed, target locations that
have the elements for a good pedestrian environment but dont currently provide
complete and safe access for people walking and biking, integrate local organizations,
enlist area property owners to use vacant spaces, create good pop-up businesses using
local products, make the street as inviting as possible, include music, art, things to read,
and places to sit, and invite policy and opinion-makers to come and see for themselves
what the street could look like. For more information, see http://betterblock.org/
3. Change the Posted Speed
Changing the speed limit on public roads requires a public process. The first step is to approach
your local transportation agency to find out what the rules are in your situation. States typically
dictate the ability of a local jurisdiction to adjust speed limits. Your transportation agency should
provide you with this information, or you can research the process on your own through your
state legislative assembly webpage or department of
transportation.
Since states set the rules about setting local traffic speeds,
they can vary quite a bit. Most states have a process for
local jurisdictions to apply to the state Department of
Transportation to change the speed limit of a street. In
these cases, they often require a special request
accompanied by an engineering assessment. It is likely
that the assessment will find that people are driving fast on
the road, but this finding could actually make it less likely
that the speed limit will be changed. Engineers set speed
limits at the speed at which 85% of drivers are traveling,
based on the assumption that most people drive at a
speed that is reasonable. So for example, if 85% of drivers
are driving at 35 mph or less through a community, an
engineer would say that a 35 mph speed limit is the

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reasonable, rational speed limit, even though it is a lethal speed for pedestrians and probably
much too high from a community members perspective,
Even if you succeed in having the limit lowered, just changing the speed limit is unlikely to lead
to major changes in the way that people drive. People generally drive as fast as they think is
reasonable, based on the roadway environment, rather than obeying the posted speed limit.
Some American communities have been successful in reducing driving speed by changing
speed limits, particularly when the change is relatively small and when the limit change is
coupled with community education. In Europe, there has been strong success in lowering limits
to 20 mph in places where speeds were already low and having these changes spur other traffic
calming projects and behavior changes.

Columbia, Missouri: Changing the city speed limit

Over the last decade, pedestrian safety activists in Columbia, Missouri, repeatedly
approached the citys Public Works department to request the reduction of the citywide
default residential speed limit from 30 mph to 25 mph. Lower speed limits were
permissible under state law, but city government was resistant to lowering the limit to 25
mph, based on the belief of agency staff that lowering the limit would not lower travel
speeds. The issue had no political momentum until a city councilor, Barbara Hoppe, took
the issue on. Councilor Hoppe was interested in part because of the number of
complaints she was getting from constituents, many of them concerned about the safety
of children and pets. She believed that the existing street-by-street approach to a
widespread problem was inefficient, and she felt that lowering the speed city-wide limit
was worth a try. She worked with PedNet, the local pedestrian advocacy group, to
develop a pilot project, implemented by researchers from the University of Missouri, and
she convinced other councilors to spend $10,000 on it.
The pilot took place in two neighborhoods, and tested driving speeds before and after
sign installation and education campaigns. The data showed that just installing signs
reduced average speeds by 1.0 to 6.2 mph (on different streets). The addition of an
education campaign, implemented by PedNet, reduced speeds slightly more (.67 mph on
one street and 1.75 on another). After hearing the report on the pilot, city council voted to
reduce speed limits to 25 in all residential areas, in spite of some concern about the
expense of new signs. While no data has been collected on traffic speeds after the
citywide change, which took place in 2010, Councilor Hoppe reports that her office now
only rarely hears constituent complaints about speed.
Contact: Ian Thomas, PedNet

Establish Speed Zones to Support Business Districts

State guidelines for speed limits usually designate roads in business districts for relatively
slower speeds, typically 25 or 30 mph. Businesses often support slower speeds in commercial
areas because they allow people using all modes to see and move between businesses more
easily. Communities that have made traffic calming and streetscape improvements in
commercial areas have seen positive impacts on local business.

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Establish Speed Zones for Vulnerable Populations

Many communities have taken the
approach of improving safety around
specific populations that are more likely
to be involved in or injured by pedestrian
crashes. This approach allows
communities to prioritize how to spend
their pedestrian safety resources, and it
also tends to have better political and
public support than more general traffic
safety improvements.
School zones are a very popular safety measure used by communities to protect children
around schools. Other, newer types of zones include Park Zones around recreational areas,
Senior Zones in areas with dense populations of seniors, and Home Zones for residential
areas. Most states have laws permitting lower speed limits in school zones, but municipalities
may not yet have created zones, for various reasons. To be effective, speed zones must be

San Francisco, California: Slowing Down at Schools Across the City

In 2008, the California legislature passed a law allowing cities to establish 15-mph speed
limits on streets within 500 feet of a school. Until 2011, the law had been used by only a
handful of smaller cities and one county. Walk San Francisco, a pedestrian advocacy
group, successfully encouraged the City of San Francisco to take advantage of the state
law. The City began lowering speed limits around 213 schools, beginning in October
2011. The transition is carefully coordinated; the Citys transportation agency installs new
speed limit signs at a number of schools each month, and the police department then
target those schools for two months of enforcement, using warnings only in the first
month, then ticketing in the second month.
Walk San Francisco chose this campaign for several reasons. First, state law presented
an opportunity to make it safer for children to walk in San Francisco, as well as to effect
traffic calming in many neighborhoods, making a broad shift in the way people drive in
the city. Second, they wanted to increase awareness of the importance of traffic safety by
highlighting childrens safety, which is relatively uncontroversial. Resistance to pedestrian
safety efforts often includes a tendency to blame walkers for putting themselves in
danger. However, when the conversation focuses on children, everybody accepts that
kids can make poor choices and put themselves in danger, but that they also should be
protected.
Getting the City on board with the school zone speed limit change was not very
controversial, but did require substantial persistence. In the past, traffic calming has been
done in a case-by-case and reactive way, addressing issues when people called to
complain about them. A number of agencies had to be convened to coordinate their
efforts for the school speed limit change. The implementation of the school zone speed
limit change represents the first time in San Francisco that traffic safety enforcement has
been strategically planned and targeted. The citys leadership, the transportation agency,
and the police are all on board with the change, and developed a plan to make it work.
Contact: Elizabeth Stampe, Walk San Francisco
Contact: Ian Thomas, PedNet

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supported with enforcement and traffic calming.

4. Change the Laws that Govern Posted Speed
When communities are restricted by state law, it may be necessary to take the speed limit issue
to the state legislature. Several states have passed legislation permitting some local control for
Oregon: Strategic targeting of state legislation to support a city agency initiative
The Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) is developing a network of neighborhood
greenways network as a way to increase comfort and safety for people walking and
biking. These low-traffic, low-speed residential streets are parallel routes to busier
streets, with traffic calming measures (primarily speed humps) and safety treatments at
difficult crossings. PBOT considers the greenways a cost-effective way to move toward a
complete transportation system. This approach has been successful for Portland to date,
and PBOT is enthusiastic about the greenways potential for encouraging and protecting
people who are walking and bicycling.
To make the neighborhood greenways safer and more comfortable, PBOT wanted to
lower speed limits to 20 mph. Under state law, this would require an application and
analysis by City to the State Speed Board at the Oregon Department of Transportation.
To avoid this slow, costly process, the City of Portland worked with the Oregon legislative
assembly to pass HB 3150, which allows jurisdictions to reduce speed limits on certain
streets without getting state approval. Under the new law, reductions of up to 5 mph are
allowed with passage of an ordinance, limited to streets with average speeds of less than
30 mph and 2,000 or fewer daily motor vehicle trips.
There were several factors in the success of the bill. Past experience included backlash
from 24-hour 20 mph school zones, so proponents crafted the bill to aim for an
achievable, narrowly-focused change to meet their specific interest. In particular, the
requirement that jurisdictions pass an ordinance before changing speed limits was
intended to protect the legislation (and legislators) from backlash due to poor
implementation. A specific issue that came up with the school zone legislation, and that is
frequently an issue in speed limit changes, is the fear that jurisdictions will be able to
create speed traps to generate revenue.
PBOT also deliberately enlisted some supporters who were not traditional allies for urban
traffic calming activities, most notably AAA and the Oregon Trucking Association. These
organizations did more than just endorse the legislation; they actively lobbied for it,
because the invitingly slow speed on neighborhood greenways could attract families and
slower traffic to those routes, leaving the arterials less congested for freight. This unusual
support was important to getting the bill passed.
The concept did encountered minor opposition. The most significant challenge was that
some legislators disliked the neighborhood greenway term, which they found politically
distasteful. While PBOT staff regrets the loss of the language, which was ultimately
removed from the bill, they felt it was worth giving it up to get the bill passed.
Contact: Mark Lear, Portland Bureau of Transportation
speed limits.

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Massachusetts: Changing the default speed limit

WalkBoston, a pedestrian advocacy group in Massachusetts, has taken a different tack.
The state DOT has taken a strong position against freeing up local jurisdictions to change
the speed limit, because with 351 cities and towns, the opportunity for inconsistency is
just too significant. Instead, the legislation that WalkBoston has been pushing for several
years would reduce the default speed limit in Massachusetts in urban districts from 30
mph to 25 mph. The bill does not seem to have any significant opposition (although it has
been difficult to get the legislature to take action on it), but has run up against a technical
problem that is preventing the campaign from moving forward at this time.
The bill defines urban district based on the distance between buildings. This definition
has two problems. First, it is very difficult to map, and when a proxy variable (residential
density) was used, the analysis indicated that very few suburban roads would be
affected, and many important urban roads would also be disqualified. Second, it refers to
functionally classified local roads which are defined on MassDOTs website as roads
that provide access to abutting land with little or no emphasis on mobility. These two
limitations means that the speed limit change would apply to very few roads outside
dense urban neighborhoods.
Once the technical problem is overcome, the bill is more likely to progress. WalkBoston
has been building relationships with other nonprofits working on active transportation and
pedestrian safety, and this collaboration has strengthened all of their legislative activities.
WalkBoston staffmembers are working with regional planning organizations and the state
DOT to ensure that the bill is effective and enforceable.
Whats Next?
Working to reduce speeds is a long, challenging process. There are many demonstrated ways
to reduce traffic speed, but making widespread changes in traffic speed will take most of them
at once and some new ones, too. The more we can communicate and coordinate our efforts
nationwide, the more effective all our efforts will be.

Photos from Flickr Creative Commons: Credit

to Dylan Passmore, Sara Dent, Groovehouse
Waywuwei.

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