hit the brakes Austin leaders voted to lower the speed limits on nearly 50 roads as traffic fatalities increase.
On June 16, Austin City Council approved reducing the speed limit of almost 50 urban arterial street seg- ments—a term defining busy main roads—in the city. The majority of streets were reduced by 5 mph; nine streets were reduced by 10 mph; and one street, McKinney Falls Parkway, will be reduced by 15 mph. The speed limits will be adjusted over the next few months, according to Jack Flagler, Austin public information specialist. Leff said the city is reducing speed limits on the streets where the major- ity of injuries and deaths happen. He added early data shows the speed limit reductions from 2020 are having a positive effect on traffic safety, though because the reductions happened so recently, Vision Zero staffers have yet to release hard data confirming their effectiveness. Slower speeds reduce the number of accidents on roads, which causes less traffic to pile up and ultimately reduces costs stemming from public safety resources such as EMS and fire trucks, Leff said. “[We just need] the majority of peo- ple to slow down a little bit,” Leff said. At a June 28 meeting, the Travis County Commissioners Court voted not to change the speed limit of Braker Lane in the Whisper Valley neighbor- hood from 50 to 40 mph after con- cluding the change would be moot without the Austin Police Department enforcing it. “What is the point of reducing the speed limit if we don’t have the staff to enforce it?” Precinct 2 Commis- sioner Brigid Shea said at the meeting. For his part, White agrees the APD is understaffed and unable to provide the level of oversight needed to miti- gate the situation in Austin. ADP’s Driving While Intoxicated unit has been temporarily suspended and the motorcycle unit has been shifted to a volunteer-based program,
Traffic crashes January 2018-June 2022 CENTRAL AUSTIN
Fatal Serious injuries
Speed limit changes
183
MOPAC
METRIC BLVD.
STONELAKE BLVD.
5 MPH reduced speed 10 MPH reduced speed
JOLLYVILLE RD.
GREAT HILLS TRL.
GRACY FARMS LN.
CONTINUED FROM 1
35
JOLLYVILLE RD.
RUTLAND DR.
360
130 Further, traffic deaths have steadily increased in Austin since 2018, per data from Vision Zero—a city program cen- tered on reducing traffic fatalities and serious injuries through education, policy and street improvement. Com- pared to last year, there has already been one more death, 22 more serious injuries, and 246 more accidents in 2022 as of July 4. 290 While the city of Austin, Travis County and TxDOT are working to advance policy and increase awareness on traffic safety, lack of enforcement remains an issue. Austin Police Department Lt. Wil- liam White said July 1 that staff- ing shortages have rendered traffic enforcement virtually nonexistent on certain Austin roads. “We don’t have the staff to enforce the current speed limits, much less a change in the speed limits,” he said. “There’s no plan going forward as far as our traffic enforcement goes.” Still some traffic experts said chang- ing speed limits and focusing on edu- cation can make a difference. Changing the limits City action to reduce speed limits began in 2020 when the Austin Trans- portation Department ran a study that concluded many of Austin’s speed lim- its were “unreasonable and unsafe.”
SPICEWOOD SPRINGS RD.
FAR WEST BLVD.
RUTHERFORD LN.
MOPAC
35TH ST.
360
183
LAKE AUSTIN BLVD.
35
290
71
N
SOURCE: AUSTIN TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT/COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
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