The San Rafael City Council has voted to lower speeds on 18 roadways outside the downtown corridor — the second phase of a program that began in 2025 by reducing speed limits downtown.
The new signs go up in the fall, with a month-long warning period before enforcement begins in the winter. The actions follow a change in state law that allows local jurisdictions to reduce traffic speeds under certain conditions.
“Most people are surprised to find out that speed limits aren’t necessarily set by cities,” said Jimmy Jessup with Parametrix, an engineering firm hired by the city to conduct a supplemental study on the city’s roads.
Assembly Bill 43, which went into effect in 2024, authorizes a local authority to lower speed limits by 5 mph below a traffic engineer’s recommendation if the portion of the street has been designated as a high-injury street or if the street is near an area with a high concentration of bicycles or vulnerable groups such as children, seniors, people with disabilities and the unhoused.
For each road in the current analysis, Parametrix did a crash history analysis, looked for the presence of vulnerable roadway users and considered future and existing infrastructure projects, as well as public input and consultation with city staff in the Police Department.
Jessup at the council’s meeting Monday showed a graph of fatality statistics in collisions between cars and pedestrians. “With a vehicle traveling 20 miles an hour, there’s a 10% chance that it results in a fatality,” he said. “But if that vehicle is traveling at 40 miles an hour, the chance of fatality increases greatly to 80%.”
Traffic surveys require that traffic engineers consider the prevailing speeds, accident records, and roadside conditions not readily apparent to the driver when setting speed limits. It permits them to also consider residential density, business density, and bicyclist and pedestrian safety.
Some of the roads that will be affected are Andersen Drive, Canal Street at Spinnaker Point Drive, Kerner Boulevard, Los Gamos Drive, Third Street, and Point San Pedro Road.
Another way to slow traffic is to change the timing of traffic lights.
San Rafael traffic engineer Sayed Fakhry pointed out there is a concern with traffic moving along Second and Third streets, which are arterial roads downtown.
“Now progression is based on 20 mph, “Fakhry said. “If you speed, theoretically, it won’t help you at the red light; but if you continue at 20 mph, then you hit the green.”
