Existing law requires the Department of Transportation to include in the California Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices a requirement that the department and local authorities, when setting speed limits, round speed limits to the nearest 5 miles per hour of the 85th percentile speed of traffic as determined by an engineering and traffic survey. Existing law authorizes the department or a local authority to round the speed limit down to the lower 5 miles per hour increment in instances when the speed limit should be rounded up, but prohibits that speed limit from being further reduced for any reason.

This bill would require the Secretary of Transportation, on or before July 1, 2019, to establish and convene the Zero Traffic Fatalities Task Force, which shall include, but is not limited to, representatives from the Department of the California Highway Patrol, the University of California and other academic institutions, the Department of Transportation, the State Department of Public Health, local governments, bicycle safety organizations, statewide motorist service membership organizations, transportation advocacy organizations, and labor organizations. The bill would require the task force to develop a structured, coordinated process for early engagement of all parties to develop policies to reduce traffic fatalities to zero. The bill would require the Secretary of Transportation to prepare and submit a report of findings based on the task force’s efforts to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature on or before January 1, 2020. The bill would require the report to include a detailed analysis of specified issues, including the existing process for establishing speed limits and a recommendation as to whether an alternative to the use of the 85th percentile as a method for determining speed limits should be considered. The provisions of the bill would be repealed on January 1, 2023.