Thousand Oaks City Council Votes to Raise Speed Limits for Study : Traffic: Engineers claim the temporary change will help police enforce laws and slow motorists down. But some residents are skeptical.

It is not an easy concept to grasp: raise speed limits as a way of getting drivers to slow down.

But Thousand Oaks traffic engineers vow that raising speed limits on 10 city streets will actually make it easier for police to enforce the law and keep motorists from driving too fast.

The City Council voted Tuesday to allow engineers to temporarily raise speed limits to see if the concept works.

Engineers are relying on what seems like a completely contradictory California law meant to prevent police from setting up speed traps to ticket motorists unfairly.

The 1972 law demands that speed limits be set at or near the average speed driven by 85% of drivers, on the grounds that the majority of people instinctively drive at a safe pace, or what engineers refer to as critical speed.

On streets where limits are set below critical speed, police officers are not allowed to use radar guns to clock speeders, according to the law.

The city’s chief traffic engineer, John Helliwell, assured council members that motorists are unlikely to hit accelerators harder as a result of the change.

“What we expect to happen is that there will probably not be a change in speed at all,” Helliwell said. “It’s been found in state and national tests that people drive a road at a speed they feel comfortable at.”

After wrestling with the concept, the Thousand Oaks City Council voted unanimously to allow traffic engineers to temporarily increase speed limits as much as 10 m.p.h.

“While it seems to defy logic that by raising the speed limit 5 m.p.h. it will not make people drive faster, other cities have found it to be the case,” said Councilwoman Elois Zeanah. “So even though it defies logic, we want to find out if it applies to the psychology of our drivers.”

However, council members directed staff to check into appealing the law.

“It certainly doesn’t hurt to see some of the leadership in the Legislature on this,” Councilman Andy Fox said.

But Nadine Arnold, a 30-year resident of Avenida de Los Arboles, was not persuaded by Helliwell’s argument.

“If you believe that logic, I can sell you the Brooklyn Bridge again,” Arnold told the council.

A Ventura County court ruling in 1992 reinforcing the law has prompted local cities to re-evaluate many posted speed limits. Simi Valley and Camarillo have raised limits, and according to Helliwell, engineers there found that speeds changed less than 1 m.p.h. after limits were raised.

As it stands now, portions of 49 streets throughout Thousand Oaks are posted with speed limits below critical speed, making it impossible for police to use radar guns to stop speeding motorists.

The 10 street segments engineers will use as samples in the study include: Duesenberg Drive, between Thousand Oaks Boulevard and Hillcrest Drive; Townsgate Road between Hampshire Road and Westlake Boulevard; Willow Lane between Hampshire Road and Conejo School Road; Avenida de Las Flores between Avenida de Las Plantas and Erbes Road; Rancho Conejo Boulevard and Newbury Road from E. Kelley Road to Haigh Road.

Engineers will also raise limits on: Michael Drive from Eagleview Place to Madrid Avenue; Borchard Road from the Ventura Freeway to Reino Road; Gainsborough Road from Lynn Road to Camino Manzanas; and two parts of Olsen Road, from Pederson Road to the Moorpark Freeway and to the eastern city limit.