BILL ANALYSIS AB 321 Page 1 CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS AB 321 (Nava) As Amended August 21, 2007 Majority vote ----------------------------------------------------------------- |ASSEMBLY: |78-1 |(June 5, 2007) |SENATE: |21-15|(September 5, | | | | | | |2007) | ----------------------------------------------------------------- Original Committee Reference: TRANS. SUMMARY : Allows local governments, after a local ordinance is adopted to extend school safety zones from 500 feet to 1,000 feet; and, reduces the prima facie speed limit from 25 miles per hour (mph) to 15 mph when approaching at a distance of 500 feet and passing a school. The Senate amendments : 1)Limit this bill's applicability to residential districts with a posted speed limit of 30 mph or slower. 2)Provide that when determining the need to lower the prima facie speed limit, the local jurisdiction is to take the following into consideration: a) Accident records; b) Highway, traffic, and roadside conditions not readily apparent to the driver; and, c) Prevailing speeds as determining a traffic engineering measurements. 3)Provide that reduced speed limits are to apply when children are going to or leaving the school, either during school hours or during the noon recess period. EXISTING LAW : 1)Provides for a prima facie speed limit of 25 mph in school zones, if the highway is posted with a standard "school" warning sign, during specified times. AB 321 Page 2 2)Allows a local authority to determine, based on an engineering and traffic safety survey, that a prima facie speed limit of 25 mph in a school zone is unsafe or unreasonable and to reduce the prima facie speed limit to 20 to 15 mph, as justified by the survey. AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY This bill was substantially similar to the Senate approved version with changes noted above. FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, local discretionary costs to erect 15 mph signs on state highways within 500 feet of a school and to move existing 25 mph signs to the expanded 1,000 foot school zone boundary. These costs are not reimbursable from the state. COMMENTS : According to the author, thousands of child pedestrians are hit each year due to limited school zone parameters and excessive speed in school zones. The author points to a recently released January 2007 report, conducted by California Department of Transportation, entitled "Safe Routes to School Safety and Mobility Analysis," which details a high number of such incidents near school zones. The report highlights that between January 1998 and December 2005, 11 children were killed, and 1,449 were injured in the vicinity of 350 schools in the study. Of these, 644 (44%) involved bicyclists, and 816 (56%) involved pedestrians. Approximately 52% of those injured or killed were age 12 or younger. The author also stresses that the expansion of school zone distances and the changes in posted speed limits will make school zones safer and save the lives of pedestrians and bicyclists near schools, especially children. Previous legislation: SB 1227 (Denham) of 2006, which died in the Senate, would have allowed, until January 1, 2010, a prima facie speed limit of 15 mph for specified school zones in Merced and Monterey counties. SB 1227 would have also required local authorities in these counties to report to the California Highway Patrol on the collisions, citations, average vehicle speed, speed limits, and use of specified "children are present" signs. Analysis Prepared by : Alejandro Esparza / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093 AB 321 Page 3 FN: 0002405