BILL ANALYSIS
AB 321
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CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 321 (Nava)
As Amended August 21, 2007
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |78-1 |(June 5, 2007) |SENATE: |21-15|(September 5, |
| | | | | |2007) |
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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
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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
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