Last week, Boston City Councilors Ed Flynn and Frank Baker called for a hearing to examine the merits of lowering the speed limit in the City of Boston to 20 MPH, unless otherwise posted, as well as a discussion of other traffic calming measures to improve road safety for all. The speed limit in the city was most recently lowered from 30 MPH to 25 MPH on January 9, 2017 as part of the city’s Vision Zero initiative, no serious or fatal crashes in Boston by 2030. The order has been sent to the Committee on Planning, Development and Transportation.
“In the final analysis, Councilor Baker and I want to open up this dialogue to ensure we are doing all we can to try to save lives and realize Vision Zero. We believe that infrastructure changes, like speed humps and raised crosswalks, are necessary for traffic calming; however, a combination of these physical changes and a lower speed limit will improve public safety for all ” said Flynn. “Data from the city’s website and the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety recently indicated that the chances of a serious or fatal crash at 30 MPH is 50%, while at 20 MPH the chances significantly drop to 18%. We thank Mayor Walsh and his staff for their strong leadership on Vision Zero and efforts to make Boston safer for all.”
Councilor Baker said, “We were already successful in lowering the speed limit to 25 miles per hour on public ways subject to the control of the city. One of my top constituent complaints is the need for lower speed limits, more enforcement, and various traffic calming measures, like raised crosswalks, speed humps, narrowing traffic lanes, and bump-outs. As elected officials in the City of Boston, we need to help eliminate traffic fatalities on our city’s streets. Further lowering of the street speed limit is an important step in the right direction.”
For more information, please contact Councilor Flynn’s office at 617-635-3203 & Ed.Flynn@Boston.Gov, or Councilor Baker at 617-635-3455 & Frank.Baker@Boston.Gov.
