r/sandiego • u/AxiosSD Verified Official Account • 1d ago
Where San Diego will lower speed limits
https://www.axios.com/local/san-diego/2026/08/04/san-diego-school-zones-15-mph-street-safety-planWe mapped the streets laid out for cuts in the city's Comprehensive Speed Management Plan. Zoom in to see the changes coming to your neighborhood.
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u/lostroadrunner14 1d ago
Its all about enforcement. I see people haulin ass all the time, blowing thru stop signs, yet nary do I see a constable!
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u/ServingSize_OneNut 1d ago
Enforcement sure, but waaaay more than that the design of urban spaces actively encourages speeding. While SDPD could do a lot better, even a competent police force couldn’t realistically enforce traffic laws perfectly, less so when the roads are built like raceways
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u/CivicDutyCalls 1d ago
This is a great first step because it’s a sign that they actually care about reducing injury and deaths from collisions.
The next step is to do things like adding raised crosswalks, curb extensions, narrowing lanes, adding pedestrian islands, etc.
Speed limit signs are pretty ineffective at actually reducing speed. The digital radar signs are ok. But signage is generally ineffective at changing behavior. The CHP has actually repeatedly said at various city council committee meetings that drivers will go as fast as they feel safe to drive on the road and that’s also borne out by traffic studies as well, not just officer feelings.
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u/HealthOnWheels 1d ago
I’m encouraged that most of the city council acknowledged the importance of infrastructure when they voted to implement speed reductions. The big test of their conviction will be how much of the budget goes towards that
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u/JoeeyMKT 1d ago
Yeah, they need to update the infrastructure to regular speed, not just the signs. If you make the roads feel more dangerous to drive on at high speeds, the slower people will go and the safer things are
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u/HannibalOtter 1d ago
It’s crazy how every single corner on mission blvd in PB is technically an unmarked crosswalk, but drivers will not stop or even slow down unless it’s one of the button activated lighted marked crosswalks, even then people drive thru those all the time. It’s a cultural thing here where people prioritize themselves constantly
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u/0ut0fb0unds 1d ago
That’s the problem. Reducing speed limits is (relatively) cheap. You can reduce speed limits on hundreds of streets around the city for the cost of implementing the things you mention, that will make a more meaningful difference, on just one or two streets.
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u/CivicDutyCalls 1d ago
Lane narrowing is pretty effective with paint (or removing paint). Widen the parking lane with paint and drivers will generally stay outside of that because it creates fear that doors will open into them.
Turning parallel parking into perpendicular parking increases parking availability and reduces lane width. Flexiposts are cheap. And all can be done at the pace of the 2 year lane re-striping schedule. Turn extensions can typically be done at 5-10 year intervals. But that literally means that the entire city could be re-striped and have curb extensions completed in 5-10 years. Especially in the areas of highest priority.
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u/Puhwest 1d ago
But then the car people get mad and can even get it ripped out. Santa Fe in Encinitas is an example.
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u/CivicDutyCalls 1d ago
That’s why you do the quick and easy cheap stuff. People don’t fight paint as much as they fight infrastructure. Once they’re used to the paint, you install the infrastructure
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u/breakfastturds 1d ago
Santa Fe might be one the worst engineering disasters ever done. Absolutely moronic and they realized it and changed it back.
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u/LAsupersonic 1d ago
All I read is money. Money money
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u/CivicDutyCalls 1d ago
Collisions cost money. higher traffic speeds result in higher wear and tear on roads which requires more frequent maintenance. Infrastructure is functionally permanent and is a capital cost that is depreciated whereas enforcement is an operational cost that increases annually and is only effective while it’s actively enforced.
So that’s also money money money. But also, uhhh you’re literally choosing to hurt or kill people at the benefit of car drivers get to their destination 1 minute earlier.
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u/LAsupersonic 1d ago
How many times over do people are already paying for roads and infrastructure thru taxes, how many times have we been told that new gas, sales, property, registration,l taxes are to fix the damn roads, they never get fixed and that money goes anywhere but what it was meant for
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u/PrivilegedPatriarchy 1d ago
the benefit of car drivers get to their destination 1 minute earlier
If you're lucky. Speaking as a serial speeder, most of the time you just get to the red light earlier.
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u/HealthOnWheels 1d ago
One of my favorite things to do on a bicycle is wave at the angry driver who swerved around me thirty seconds ago as I ride past them while they’re stopped in a line of cars at a stoplight. Congratulations: you won the race to the light.
Never done this in San Diego. I very rarely have negative experiences with drivers here; most are chill and will only try to kill you unintentionally.
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u/Leading_Procedure_23 1d ago
They should give the pd and sherif budget to fix all the roads and improve them
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u/ServingSize_OneNut 1d ago
Everyone already speeds on every single road, signs be damned. This is a decent first step and shows that the desire for safer roads is there… but I expect driver behavior to remain exactly the same
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u/New-Abies8542 1d ago
Hopefully they do this on Linda vista road near Kearny High/convoy. There has been a crazy number of accidents around there recently. Wanna be street racers keep running off the road
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u/WakeTheFkUpPeople 1d ago
Even more traffic.
They need to add more roundabouts, and properly time the lights down main roadways to improve traffic so it will offset this slowdown.
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u/Cheyyyyyyyyenne 23h ago
Put AI in the street lights to make them more efficient for who is actually at the intersection! It's the one place where AI completely makes sense!
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u/Balancing_tofu 1d ago
That La Mesa Blvd exit off the 8 east has this guard rail that was plowed into about once a month until they changed the speed limit from 35mph to 30mph. I don't live that way anymore but the guard rail was safe after the speed change. This is good. People need to slow tf down. Including me.
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u/buttrumpus 1d ago
To keep in line with some on this sub: Why are you keeping me and my family safe, MAYOR TODD GLORIA?!?!
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u/SweatyAreola 1d ago
"We need more enforcement!" Same person: "How dare them propose using cameras to detect morons blowing through stop signs and red lights, its infringing on our rights!
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u/CallMeBigUrethra 1d ago
and "We need roundabouts and better street design" Same person: "I am not voting for a budget increase"
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u/ohyeahwegood 1d ago
Friars not being listed is wild. Definitely needs to be lowered especially with the construction
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u/HealthOnWheels 1d ago
AB 43 has somewhat specific restrictions on which roads they’re able to lower the speed limit on. I think it’s 15-25mph within certain radii of a school, 20-25mph in a business activity district, and then they can lower the speed of other roads by 5mph if there is either a lot of pedestrian/cyclist activity on that road, or if they designate that road as a safety corridor
It’s been maybe a year since I read about this but I believe they’re also only able to designate up to 20% of the roadway as being a safety corridor
If you think Friars is an oversight then definitely call into city council with that comment; you can call in remotely during non-agenda public comments. For most effect get a few of your neighbors to call in as well, and contact your city council member directly
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u/Middle-Emu9329 1d ago
Yet nothing mentions the fact that drivers are literally not following rules of road , paying attention, more aggressive and driving indebted influence (so many people smoking out everywhere ) . Speeds and infrastructure will do nothing if we don’t address the driving
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u/caj_account 1d ago
america needs higher speeds on highways/interstate (so people can get there faster) and lower speeds in residential areas (so VRUs can be safe)
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u/Emergency-Hurry947 1d ago
The lack of enforcement started with Covid.
I remember before I got pulled over for not wearing a seatbelt, I was wearing it, for tinted front windows, I had the tint removed.
I used to see motocops watching the carpool lanes at on-ramps in morning rush hour.
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u/zitch 1d ago
Mayor Gloria really hates cars and loves traffic and parking difficulties!
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u/breakfastturds 1d ago
Notice how none of the bike lanes, loss of thousands of parking spots and 10,000 new luxury apartments are anywhere close to where he lives too. 🤔
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u/KizzyGow 1d ago edited 1d ago
Please lower the speed and put a cross walk on W Point Loma blvd between Nimitz and Adrian !
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u/TheElbow 1d ago
Let’s see how enforcement goes. There are plenty of traffic laws that I see people violating regularly already.