The Chicago City Council has hit the brakes on a bill to reduce the speed limits on the bulk of the city’s streets from 30 to 25 miles per hour.
The ordinance failed on a 28-21 vote during Wednesday’s session of the City Council.
The Committee on Pedestrian and Traffic Safety recommended the plan earlier this year, with the aim of reducing crashes and pedestrian fatalities in the city.
According to a Governors Highway Safety Association report cited by Vox, pedestrian fatalities reached 40-year highs in 2022, with increases in distracted driving and speeding reported across the country after the COVID pandemic.
Several lawmakers who had championed the proposal cited the successes of other cities in reducing fatalities by reducing speeds.
“We know from every other city that has done this, we’ll see fewer crashes, fewer serious injuries, and fewer deaths,” Ald. Daniel La Spata said.
La Spata pointed to multiple cities that have reduced their speed limits, including suburban communities like Oak Park and Evanston and larger cities like New York and Minneapolis.
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Ald. Christopher Taliaferro, who represents the city’s 29th ward, said that one of his primary concerns was where traffic enforcement cameras would be placed, saying he was worried that tickets would disproportionately impact minority communities.
“When we put speed cameras in, we disproportionately put them in minority communities, particularly the black communities. It’s going to impact them financially,” he said.
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According to an analysis from ProPublica, households in majority Black and Hispanic ZIP codes in Chicago received tickets at around twice the rate of those in white areas between 2015 and 2019.
In the lead-up to the vote, the City Council cited statistics indicating pedestrians have a 90% chance of surviving being struck by a vehicle traveling 20 miles per hour, compared to a 60% chance if the vehicle is traveling 30 miles per hour.
After implementation of similar legislation in Seattle, there was a 17% drop in the odds of an injury crash in downtown and a 20% reduction on arterial streets, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
While the Chicago measure failed, other cities are moving ahead with plans to reduce speed limits, including New York, where the standard speed limit will drop to 25 miles per hour this year.
