Speed Limit Won’t Be Raised for Now

Oak Park residents will not see the speed limit on Lindero Canyon Road raised from 35 to 45 mph--at least for now.

After passionate protests from a group of about 60 angry residents, the Oak Park Municipal Advisory Council voted unanimously Tuesday to ask the county to maintain the current 35 mph limit.

Butch Britt, the county’s deputy director of public works, said he would hold off on posting a 45 mph limit until the Board of Supervisors considers the council’s request, but that he could not hold off indefinitely.

The county traffic division decided to raise the speed limit after conducting a periodic review that showed 85% of the drivers on Lindero Canyon Road travel at an average of 46 mph. According to California law, speed limits must approximate the prevailing speed at which reasonable drivers travel on the roadway.

If set lower, the speed limit becomes unenforceable, Britt said.

But residents who live along a winding portion of the road that ends at Napoleon Avenue said they objected to the survey results because the readings were taken on a straight section of road just north of Golden Eagle Drive, where drivers pick up speed.

Also, they said, motorists drive the road faster than they should because of sparse law enforcement in the area.

A 45 mph speed limit, they said, would only compound problems on the road, which many consider one of the most dangerous in this unincorporated community.

Although traffic officials say only six accidents occurred on Lindero Canyon Road between 1992 and 1994, a handful of residents testified they have seen many more that had not been reported.

“If you are right and 35 mph is unenforceable, we will wind up with a ticket being thrown out,” Oak Park resident John Lyon told Britt. “[But] if we are right and 45 mph is unsafe, someone will wind up dead.”