Speed Limits to Increase While Pedestrian Deaths Pile Up

Four valley streets with proposed speed limit increases are scheduled to be voted on by the City Council tomorrow. This has livable streets activists up in arms as they ask how can vehicles legally gain more speed while pedestrians and bicyclists are put in more danger, especially in light of a slew of recent fatal pedestrian incidents. Damien Newton at StreetblogLA explains why there is an increase: "The LADOT and LAPD have conspired to raise the limits on these streets because of a state law that requires that the speed limit be set at the 85th percentile of traffic every couple of years for the police to be able to use radar. What has been left unexplained is why so many people are speeding on these roads if the police are using rader currently. Unless limits are being enforced, people will continue to speed no matter what the limit and the limit will rise every couple of years." Whether or not it is acceptable or not to raise speed limits, we'll leave to the transportation experts. What we feel the real problem here is the lack of plans to create a culture of pedestrian and cyclist awareness and respect for the law.