A 20 mph speed limit sign on Floyd Avenue in the Fan. Image by Wyatt Gordon.

After a driver killed Aajah Rosemond while she was walking home from school in 2020, her family vowed that Richmond’s attitude toward speeding must change. Taking up the concerns of her constituents, Delegate Betsy Carr (D-Richmond) sponsored legislation in 2021 to allow localities to lower speed limits on residential roads and commercial corridors below the state minimum of 25 miles per hour. Since the bill passed, however, plans to lower Richmond’s default speed limit from 25 mph to 20 mph have stalled.

Speed kills

A difference of 5 mph may not sound worth fighting over, but cars become exponentially more deadly when traveling over 20 mph. Considering two out of three drivers regularly go “just five over,” the potential lives saved by a slightly lower speed limit may surprise you.

A person hit by a car traveling 30 mph is 70% more likely to be killed than if struck by a driver going 25 mph, for example. Assuming Richmonders one day follow a citywide 20 mph default speed limit, pedestrians would face a 93% chance of surviving any given crash in the River City. Even a 70-year-old has an 87% chance of surviving being hit by a driver traveling 20 mph.

That’s why 5th District Councilwoman Stephanie Lynch introduced a resolution in 2021 requesting that Richmond’s Department of Public Works explore lowering the city’s default speed limit to 20 mph. If speed limits were decreased on a case-by-case basis, her concern was that only better-resourced neighborhoods with residents who have the time and know-how to navigate city bureaucracy would enjoy the benefits of slower traffic.

What she didn’t expect was the $2.5 million price tag that city officials told her the move would cost. The administration’s legal team interprets the law to require a new 20 mph speed limit sign posted on every block that doesn’t currently have one, requiring hundreds of copycat signs which astronomically drive up the cost of the change. Experts doubt that posting a sign on every block has a meaningful impact on lowering driver speeds.

“Our office couldn’t justify that amount spent on signs versus narrowing roads and adding bike lanes and raised crosswalks, so we pulled the ordinance,” said Amy Robins, council liaison for the 5th district.

Fighting for flexibility

For now, Richmond residents can submit a request for a new speed limit sign on their streets as low as 15 mph via the RVA 311 app. In the 5th District alone, Robins says many constituents have already begun to do so. With 14 out of the 15 civic associations in the 5th asking for help to reduce speeding, the demand for lower speed limit signs should come as no surprise.

“The number one thing for every single council office is traffic,” said Robins. “Residents want lower speed limits, speed tables, and they want enforcement. As a city, we have had how many people die in just the last few months due to excessive speed regardless of whether they were driving, walking, or biking? This is ridiculous.”

In 2022, 31 people died on Richmond’s roads, 10 of whom were pedestrians. 60% of all major injuries and deaths occur on the high-injury road network. Even if Lynch’s 20 mph default speed limit were to be financially feasible, state-owned streets like Cary and Main through the Fan wouldn’t be included, as the City of Richmond does not have jurisdiction over them.

Del. Carr plans to introduce a bill to the General Assembly this month that would remove the need for costly individual block signage and traffic studies, and allow any Virginia locality to instead post default speed limit signs at its borders to notify drivers of the lower limit.

“We need to do something to counteract the speeding that is happening in our neighborhoods, making them unsafe,” said Carr. “I have put in a draft for it, and we are going to try to limit the number of signs that need to be put up. We might think this is the best thing to do for Richmond, but lawmaking is always consensus and compromise.”

Currently, Carr’s bill is not on the official City of Richmond wish list for lawmakers; however, a proposal to expand speed camera enforcement in the capital beyond school and work zones to include “business and residential districts, parks, and bridges” is. As long as the contract with the third-party vendors can be ironed out in time, Richmonders should begin seeing automated speed cameras around town by July 1, 2023, according to Robins.

Although opponents often lambast speed cameras as predatory infringements on privacy, Robins said Councilmember Lynch’s support for the policy comes directly from her constituents.

“Most of our civic associations and residents are asking for speed cameras to be expanded to bridges and parks,” said Robins. “At no point is this about revenue. This is 100% about safety. It’s not going to fix everybody who chooses to go 55 mph down Semmes Ave, but it will have an impact on overall speeding.”

This article has been updated to clarify the estimated cost provided by Richmond officials to Councilmember Lynch’s office was $2.5 million, not $5.2 million as originally reported. GGWash takes reporting accuracy seriously and sincerely regrets the error.