D.C. to Raise Speed Limits

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D.C. to Raise Speed Limits

James Joyner | Thursday, June 16, 2005

Speed cameras could be shuttered (Washington Examiner)

Clyde Howard Jr. said he hates driving on Benning Road NE. With four lanes each way and drivers speeding up to merge in front of traffic to make left turns, the busy thoroughfare is not the right place for the District Department of Transportation’s 30 mph speed limit or its automated speed cameras, he said. “It’s a speed trap,” said Howard, a native Washingtonian who lives in Northwest. “Something needs to be done to expedite traffic out of the city and it’s not being done,” he said. “Speed limits should be raised to 35 mph on major arterials and 40 mph on freeway-type roads. Residential streets should remain at 25 mph to protect the citizens.”

Howard voiced his traffic woes in testimony Wednesday afternoon at a hearing of the District’s Committee on Public Works and the Environment. The committee is considering legislation, the Automated Traffic Enforcement Amendment Act, introduced by Council Member Phil Mendelson, D-at-large, that would require Mayor Anthony A. Williams to re-evaluate speed limits on District streets.

Alas, despite the bill’s name and the Examiner’s headline, the hated traffic cameras will not be going away. If the report on WAMU, one of D.C.’s NPR stations, this morning is accurate, most of the council supports rationalizing the speed limits.

Of course, for several hours a day, a 30 mph speed limit merely mocks drivers stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic.

About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife and infant daughter.

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