By Moses Leos III.
A summertime survey of Buda neighborhoods meant to provide input on congestion and other issues ended up being the catalyst for speed limit reductions throughout the city.
In July, the Buda City Council surveyed area residents in the Whispering Hollow and Elm Grove communities. The main topic was whether narrow streets caused problems, particularly with emergency response vehicles.
The council also asked respondents to weigh in on possible solutions. One such solution was to restripe the curbs at intersections, preventing vehicles from parking in those zones.
Responses from online survey |
Observed speeds |
But survey responses also showed a strong concern about how cars travel too fast through neighborhoods.
According to research compiled from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), a vehicle travelling at 25 miles per hour takes 85 feet in order to come to a full stop – 30 feet in braking deceleration distance, and 55 feet in perception reaction distance.
At 30 miles per hour, those numbers increase, with the total stopping distance increasing to 109 feet.
According to the NHTSA, pedestrian injuries rose from 18.2 percent at 25 miles per hour to 23.4 percent at 30. Fatalities dramatically rose from 1.8 percent to 5.4 percent.
So the council sent out a second survey just weeks ago asking three questions: The respondent’s neighborhood, if anyone in the household was under the age of 18, and the respondent’s preference on a 25 or 30 mile per hour speed limit.
On Oct. 15, the city council amended Chapter 22, Article 22.02, Division 4 of their code of ordinances. It calls for the speed limit on roadways not on the State Highway system to drop to 25 miles per hour.
While there have been no serious injuries or a fatality in Buda neighborhoods, according to Chance Sparks, director of planning, the goal of staff was to ensure a tragedy of that magnitude does not occur.
In addition, the Public Works Department conducted speed tests, to see an average of how fast cars were going through certain neighborhoods.
Their results were overwhelmingly in favor of lowering the speed limit, particularly in the Elm Grove, Bradfield Village and Green Meadows subdivisions, where more than 80 percent of responses support the measure.
Sparks said the narrow streets helped propagate the measure. With cars parking on the streets in those subdivisions, he felt drivers are inclined to slow down in those neighborhoods.
As a result, he felt it was “common sense,” to lower speed limits, in the name of safety, one of the pros outlined by the city.
As for the under 18 question, the answers were inconclusive. The city did not find a correlation between young drivers and higher speed in neighborhoods.
Buda Police Chief Bo Kidd was also in favor of the measure. He has attended many Homeowners Association (HOA) meetings, where the subject often comes up.
“I know people have been calling for lowering the speed limit,” Kidd said. “At many of the HOA meetings I attend, vast majorities of people are in favor of it.”
Kidd said lowering speed limits could mean more speeding tickets. However, he also said it was dependent on the neighborhood and situation. Often, with narrow streets, such as in Whispering Hollow, a tendency to slower speed is the norm.
Ultimately, the city wants to ensure streets have a safe, uniform speed limit. It also gives them a chance to replace speed limit signs, in order to comply with new regulations for reflectivity.
“We are working ahead of a problem,” Sparks said. “We want to make sure all neighborhoods are on the same playing field.”
The city aims to spend approximately $2,754 on 60 new signs.
