Councilors want city speed limit lowered from 30 to 20 m.p.h.

for decades. The key to improving safety is ENFORCEMENT of laws for ALL road users, not just car drivers.

20 mph (and 15 mph for school zones) is unenforcable, which is why it won't work.

Also, see DTP's posting about why the City Council shouldn't even be considering a blanket limit, but should leave efforts involving traffic to trained professionals.

Nailed it all around, well done.

What speed have the 5 deaths has been hit so far? If the accidents are occurring at 30 MPH, then lowering it to 20 MPH have some merit despite there also counter arguments. If they getting at a much faster speed, then lowing to 20 MPH just increases the number of drivers in violation while not changing the conditions related to the accidents and its victims.

I will agree with you on some of your concerns, however I wholeheartedly disagree with you on red light cameras. They are used for money making purposes not for anyone's safety.

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20131218/00014725598/red-light-cameras...

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2008/08/red_light_camer.html

http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2014/10/red-light_cameras_may_be_haz...

This city is notorious for its lack of traffic enforcement. I could go down a few beers, get in my car, drive 15mph over the limit, run through a red light, cruise past a stop sign, cut off a bike or two, and I seriously doubt I would get pulled over.

I have witnessed people running red lights in front of cops many times, and they barely bat an eye. The details are the worst.. what's the point of having a cop stand there playing with his cell phone?

The original comment is valid. This city should not waste its time changing laws it hasn't even bothered to enforce!

are already posted, than that means that the necessary engineering studies should have already been done to establish the "reasonable and proper" speed limit for that road as 30 mph. If physical changes to the road justify a lower speed limit, the city or town can seek to have the special speed regulation amended so signs denoting the lower speed limit can be put up.

Note that Massachusetts does not allow the posting of regulatory signs on roads governed by prima-facie (default) speed limits. From MGL Chapter 90, Sections 17 and 18:

Section 17. No person operating a motor vehicle on any way shall run it at a rate of speed greater than is reasonable and proper, having regard to traffic and the use of the way and the safety of the public. Unless a way is otherwise posted in accordance with the provisions of section eighteen (emphasis added), it shall be prima facie evidence of a rate of speed greater than is reasonable and proper as aforesaid (1) if a motor vehicle is operated on a divided highway outside a thickly settled or business district at a rate of speed exceeding fifty miles per hour for a distance of a quarter of a mile, or (2) on any other way outside a thickly settled or business district at a rate of speed exceeding forty miles per hour for a distance of a quarter of a mile, or (3) inside a thickly settled or business district at a rate of speed exceeding thirty miles per hour for a distance of one-eighth of a mile, or (4) within a school zone which may be established by a city or town as provided in section two of chapter eighty-five at a rate of speed exceeding twenty miles per hour. Operation of a motor vehicle at a speed in excess of fifteen miles per hour within one-tenth of a mile of a vehicle used in hawking or peddling merchandise and which displays flashing amber lights shall likewise be prima facie evidence of a rate of speed greater than is reasonable and proper. If a speed limit has been duly established upon any way, in accordance with the provisions of said section, operation of a motor vehicle at a rate of speed in excess of such limit shall be prima facie evidence that such speed is greater than is reasonable and proper; but, notwithstanding such establishment of a speed limit, every person operating a motor vehicle shall decrease the speed of the same when a special hazard exists with respect to pedestrians or other traffic, or by reason of weather or highway conditions. Any person in violation of this section, while operating a motor vehicle through the parameters of a marked construction zone or construction area, at a speed which exceeds the posted limit, or at a speed that is greater than is reasonable and proper, shall be subject to a fine of 2 times the amount currently in effect for the violation issued. Except on a limited access highway, no person shall operate a school bus at a rate of speed exceeding forty miles per hour, while actually engaged in carrying school children.

Section 18. The city council, the transportation commission of the city of Boston, the board of selectmen, park commissioners, a traffic commission or traffic director, or the department, on ways within their control, may make special regulations as to the speed of motor vehicles and may prohibit the use of such vehicles altogether on such ways; provided, however, that except in the case of a speed regulation no such special regulation shall be effective unless it shall have been published in one or more newspapers, if there be any, published in the town in which the way is situated, otherwise in one or more newspapers published in the county in which the town is situated; nor until after the department, and in the case of a speed regulation the department and the registrar, acting jointly, shall have certified in writing that such regulation is consistent with the public interests; (emphasis added) provided, however, that nothing herein contained shall be construed as affecting the right of the metropolitan district commission or of the department of environmental management to make rules and regulations governing the use and operation of motor vehicles on lands, roadways and parkways under its care and control. No such rule or regulation shall prohibit the use of passenger or station wagon type motor vehicles whose gross weight is less than five thousand pounds and which are registered for commercial use on ways where noncommercial passenger type motor vehicles are permitted to operate. No such regulation shall be effective until there shall have been erected, upon the ways affected thereby and at such points as the department and the registrar, acting jointly, may designate, signs, conforming to standards adopted by the department, setting forth the speed or other restrictions established by the regulation, and then only during the time such signs are in place. Any sign, purporting to establish a speed limit, which has not been erected in accordance with the foregoing provisions may be removed by or under the direction of the department.

Any person, corporation, firm or trust owning a private parking area or owning land on or abutting a private way, or any person, corporation, firm or trust controlling such land or parking area, with the written consent of the owner, may apply in writing to the city council, the traffic commission of a city or town having a traffic commission, the transportation commission of the city of Boston or the board of selectmen in any town in which the private way or parking area lies, to make special regulations as to the speed of motor vehicles and as to the use of such vehicles upon the particular private way or parking area, and the city council with the approval of the mayor, the traffic commission of a city or town, the transportation commission of the city of Boston or the board of selectmen, as the case may be, may make such special regulations with respect to said private way or parking area to the same extent as to ways within their control and such special regulations shall not be subject to approval by the department or the registrar; provided, however, that any traffic signs, signals, markings or devices used to implement such special regulations shall conform in size, shape and color to the most current manual on uniform traffic control devices.

The highlighted section of Chapter 90, Section 18, is the requirement that the City of Boston is trying to circumvent with this foolish idea.

as stated in my diatribe...

also prefaced with slightly faster..

You're welcome.

and UNENFORCABLE speed limit will accomplish this how?

I'm sorry you were almost hurt by someone running a light.

The drag racers are symbolic new
By Kinopio on Wed, 03/30/2016 - 2:18pm
The drag racers are symbolic of Boston drivers as a whole, who feel they can do whatever they want and put others lives at risk. I was nearly killed just this morning by an SUV who speed through a red light when I had the walk signal. This happens almost every day. It isn't about pulling heart strings, it is about saving innocent peoples lives. Drivers are by far the most dangerous thing in Boston and it is time to hold them accountable for killing people.

But like many others have noted, your close call is mainly related to enforcing existing laws about running red lights. Very little or nothing to do with lowering speed limits to 20.

Sorry to hear that you almost got run over by an irresponsible SUV driver who sped through the red light when you had the WALK signal.

The fact that the laws aren't enforced is why so many Boston, and Bay State Drivers, generally, take liberty and license to do whatever they please, and other people be damned.

And I mean bike lanes where vehicles cannot drive/park/idle/etc. in them. I know. I'm dreaming of a utopia. But with all the money this city boasts about, one would think this could be a reality.

I've never had any issue with 20mph speed bumps when on my bike. Most either have space on the sides to get around, cut throughs, or are humps that are very easy to get over - like the ones in Somerville near Tufts.

The roving hoards of bicycle kids and motorcyclists will turn them all into a BMXer's wet dream. Or at least the beginnings of one.

Wheelie! Catching air! Do it for the kids!

You see a lot less at 30mph than 20mph, and you do much more harm when you hit something.

A 20-year study of London found a huge drop in road injuries.

Drive safely if there are no crosswalks and people pulling from parking spaces and pedestrians in the area? Sure.

But that isn't what the city looks like. Somebody on FB was complaining about people in the crosswalks on Mass Ave in North Cambridge - he couldn't see them in time. Turns out he considered 40mph to be a "safe speed" because "its a divided highway".

Ugh.

If you can't see people and other vehicles who have the legal right of way in time to react to them, your speed isn't a safe speed. Period. It doesn't matter if you could drive that stretch when completely deserted and not hit a curb. That's not the right definition.

this matter? I think it's perfectly prudent, on their part.

Doesn't mean you can't be cited for driving 30mph if the situation (steep hill/tiny 1 way street, etc) dictates that it's unsafe to do so.

they will work to craft a proposal that would let Boston drop the speed limit on most roads to 20 m.p.h. - just 15 m.p.h. in school zone

Doesn't sound like they're looking for approval to do this just in areas where it would make a difference in pedestrian/bicyclist safety. to me.

I have been stopped on the Jamaicaway. On my motorcycle, on a sunny Sunday morning with few other vehicles on this road. It was the only time I'd ever been stopped by an officer on my motorcycle. (I love the g-forces on sweepers)

I was very lucky to be given a written warning.

And I've seen others stopped in the past as well. This road is somewhat patrolled and speeding is sometimes enforced.