Montgomery County, Maryland, has lowered the speed limit on 33 streets, most of them residential, since July of last year, county officials said Monday.
The county is also working with the Maryland State Highway Administration to lower the speed limit on five urban and suburban corridors that are jointly maintained by the county and state, including Montrose Road and Josiah Henson Parkway in North Bethesda and Darnestown Road in Rockville.
A 2021 state law authorized Montgomery County to drop maximum speeds on local roads to 20 mph on local roads, and to 15 mph in rare instances.
The roads jointly maintained by the county and state will see speed limits drop to between 25 and 35 mph. Signs alerting drivers to the new speeds will be posted by the end of August, the county said.
In addition, Montgomery County is working with the state to make high-crash corridors “safer by design,” county Vision Zero coordinator Wade Holland said.听
“Right now, under construction is New Hampshire Avenue kind of near the Beltway between Montgomery and Prince George’s County, which is one of the high-crash corridors, not only for Montgomery County and Prince George’s County, but the entire state,” he told 杏吧原创.
The state will be working on Montrose Road in North Bethesda, parts of University Boulevard West, Montgomery Village Avenue and stretches of Randolph Road later this year, Holland said.
Holland said efforts to reduce crashes, and especially cut the number of traffic fatalities, also include public education and enforcement campaigns aimed at changing behaviors.
“We still see too many crashes involving people not wearing their seat belts, they’re speeding, they’re driving while distracted, they are impaired by alcohol or drugs,” he said.
The majority of neighborhood speed limit reductions followed resident requests. The speed limits are decided upon after analysis that includes the road’s location and design, Holland said.
The emphasis on speed has to do with survivability in a crash, Holland said.
“When you get to that 35听to 40 mph听speed limit, if you strike a pedestrian or cyclist, that pedestrian or cyclist has a 50/50 chance of surviving,” he said.听
“Even a small car can do a lot of damage to people if you’re speeding or reckless.”
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