Are Salt Lake City's streets too fast? Group pushes to lower speed limit to 20 mph

SALT LAKE CITY — A coalition aimed at improving the safety of Salt Lake City streets is now seeking to lower the speed limit on city streets, arguing that the current limit doesn't do enough to stop unsafe drivers in residential neighborhoods.

The volunteer organization Sweet Streets Salt Lake City began a campaign this week seeking to enact a 20 mph speed limit on roads where people live, work, play, shop or attend school or worship. They began handing out lawn signs reading "20 Is Plenty: Slower Is Safer" and collecting signatures for a petition Wednesday evening.

The city currently has an ordinance setting the default speed limit at 25 mph unless otherwise marked. However, Sweet Streets organizers argue that many streets where people are "expected to be in the street among cars" have speed limits higher than 25 mph.

"Where we're crossing the street, and people are going 30, 35, 40 mph on residential streets, it's just dangerous," said Taylor Anderson, co-founder of the organization. "It feels unpleasant."

The organization contends that 20 mph is just safer for everyone. The group points to a 2011 AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety study that found the likelihood for survival significantly increased when a vehicle's velocity dropped from 40 mph to 30 mph and then 20 mph. The survival rate at 20 mph was 90%, compared to 60% at 30 mph and just 20% at 40 mph.

Part of the "20 Is Plenty" campaign is to see if it's a measure that residents would agree with. Anderson said the point of Wednesday's event was to better understand the interest in the movement.

"There are so many known benefits to establishing a default 20 mph speed limit where people are interacting with the street," added Myron Willson, another co-founder of Sweet Streets, in a statement. "The City Council has the power to make this change. It needs to hear from Salt Lakers that we as a city want this to happen."

It got the endorsement of Bryant Heath, a Salt Lake City resident who made some local headlines last year when he completed a run through every single street in the city. Heath penned an op-ed in support of the idea that was posted on the organization's website.

"The chief hazard I witnessed on nearly all of my 118 runs throughout the city is excessive speeding in residential streets," he wrote. "It did not matter how many little green men were out on the curb waving orange flags to warn of children in the neighborhood, or how many 'Drive like your children live here' signs I passed. I regularly saw car after car simply ignore these warnings and recklessly drive down small residential streets at speeds much greater than the posted 25 mph limit."

But not everyone is convinced about the group's proposal. Henni Sundlin, a Salt Lake City resident, said she agrees with the idea of slower road speeds. She said "it gets pretty crazy" during rush hour and other times of the day with people traveling at speeds upward of 40 mph on a common basis.

She isn't completely convinced a new speed limit would do the trick.

"I think we need more signage more than anything versus changing the speed limit because I feel like people are going to go fast anyway," Sundlin said.

Jon Larsen, Salt Lake City's transportation director, said something similar. He said studies have shown that drivers don't always slow down when the speed limit is lowered unless there are changes to the streets. However, he said the city would be willing to discuss a speed limit change.

Any final decision would be up to the Salt Lake City Council.

Anderson said he believes the organization will have some support from people who would prefer the change in their neighborhood. He's just not sure that the same support exists across other places in the city.

"Everybody wants slow speeds in front of their houses," he said. "Are you willing to do that in front of somebody else's house, in front of the school? In front of the church? We'll see."

Contributing: Jed Boal, KSL TV

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