Published Monday, July 14, 2008
Kieth Bodine, who lives in southeast Topeka, said he favors the increased speed limit on such streets as S.E. Adams, where drivers now can travel at 40 mph rather than 35 mph. Bodine said he hasn't noticed people driving faster in spite of the higher speed limit.
Speed limits on some of Topeka's busiest streets have gone to 40 mph from 35 mph in recent months, yet cars aren't necessarily going 5 mph faster than they were before the increases.
Linda Voss, traffic engineer for the city, said statistics indicate people are driving about 40 mph on the thoroughfares — the same speed as they were before the limits were increased. The difference, she said, isn't how fast motorists are driving, but now they are in compliance with the law. She said speed limits should reflect the driving patterns of motorists and allow for the smooth and safe flow of traffic.
Voss has been city traffic engineer for the past four years. Before that, she worked for 23 years for the Kansas Department of Transportation. She said one of her first objectives upon taking her job with the city was to re-evaluate speed limits throughout Topeka.
"Speed limits are something you should look at when you're building a new road," Voss said. "But it's also something you should look at about every five years as a matter of course." To date, speed limits have gone to 40 from 35 mph on streets including S.W. Fairlawn, S.W. 21st, S.W. 29th, S.W. Gage, S.E. Adams, N.W. Topeka Boulevard and S.W. Huntoon.
Other streets, including S.W. Harrison and S.W. Quincy downtown, moved to 30 from 20 mph. The city conducted studies on various streets to assess how fast cars were driving on a particular stretch of road.
"The first thing I do is send the guys out with a radar gun to see how fast people are going," Voss said. "We want our speed limit set so that 85 percent of the public is voluntarily complying with the law and 15 percent of people are not complying with the law."
The first Topeka street to see an increase in its speed limit to 40 mph from 35 mph was S.W. Fairlawn Road, about three years ago. Voss said studies along S.W. Fairlawn showed drivers were going between 38 and 41 mph before the new speed limit took effect on S.W. Fairlawn. After the speed limit was set at 40 mph, actual speeds were nearly the same as before, ranging from 38 to 42 mph.
Traffic patterns holding nearly steady after the speed limit hike dispel an oft-heard view that people will drive about five miles over the speed limit, no matter where it is set. On streets where the speed limit has gone to 40 from 35 mph, she said, statistics indicate actual speeds are in the high 30s to lower 40s.
"One of the things I hear from people is that if we raise the speed limit to 40 mph, cars will go 45 mph," Voss said. "But that's not the case. "Everybody's still going 40. They didn't start going 45."
Voss also said the higher speed limits haven't made for more dangerous streets. "You haven't made the road less safe," she said. "What you've done is make it possible for the reasonable, prudent driver to obey the law."
Voss said some speed limits — like some of the seven traffic signals she has had removed from city intersections — were implemented years ago. Some haven't been evaluated in two to three decades, despite changes in the city.
Voss said speed limit changes weren't made to pander to the public, but rather to deal with the realities of the road. "People will ask me, 'Everybody's violating the law, so you just change the law?' " she said. "I say, 'Yes, that's basically what we did.' "
She added: "The speed has not changed. The only thing that has changed is the percentage of people that are following the law."
Topeka police Capt. Jerry Stanley said he wasn't aware of any increases in accidents on areas where the speed limit was raised. "We don't set the speed limits," Stanley said. "But we are concerned about speed when collisions occur. Higher speed does result in more damage to vehicles, and more damage correlates with more injuries."
People who live and do business in areas where cars can now drive legally at 40 mph said they hadn't noticed any great changes from the lower speed limits. Traffic is still heavy during rush-hour periods in the morning, at lunch and in the evening. It is difficult to turn left onto a street with a 40 mph speed limit, but it was difficult to do so when the speed limit was 35 mph.
Ed Kies, 65, who lives near S.W. 21st and Edgewater, said many of the motorists he sees pay little heed to the posted speed limits. He estimates some cars whiz by at 50 to 55 mph. "They don't pay any attention to it," Kies said of the speed limit. "If you were walking across 21st Street and fell down, you'd never make it. You cross the street at your own risk. "I sit here every night and watch the traffic. It's just like a freeway. You can never get across." Rather than increasing the speed limit to 40 mph, Kies said he would have preferred it to be lowered to 30 mph.
Harvey Koerner, who lives in the Seabrook area near S.W. 24th and Mission, said S.W. Gage remains a difficult street to traverse, especially at times of high traffic. Still, he said, he hasn't had any problems with the higher speed zone on S.W. Gage, a couple of blocks east of his house. Rather than fighting the traffic, he said, he frequently will cut through back streets to get to his destination.
Kieth Bodine, 65, who lives in southeast Topeka, said he favors the increased speed limit on such streets as S.E. Adams, where motorists now can travel at 40 mph rather than 35 mph, as had been posted in the past. "I like the 40 mph speed limit," Bodine said. "I generally drive about 2 mph over the limit. I haven't jumped up to 45 mph. Any time I drive, I try to stay within 2 or 3 mph of the speed limit."
Bodine said he hasn't noticed people driving faster on S.E. Adams in spite of the higher speed limit.
Kevin Colhouer, who works at Darrell's Service Center at 4300 S.W. 21st, also said the new speed limit hasn't appeared to have resulted in people driver faster on S.W. 21st. "I don't think they've really changed the speed of the cars," he said. "They just changed the speed limit."
Phil Anderson can be reached at 295-1195 or phil.anderson@cjonline.com.