Bellingham drops default speed limit to 20 mph. Here’s what to know

The Bellingham City Council voted unanimously Monday to lower the city’s default speed limit to 20 mph on streets that aren’t otherwise posted. The change caps a three-year study aimed at reducing serious and fatal crashes across the city.

FULL STORY: Update: Bellingham council votes to lower city’s default speed limits

Here are key takeaways:

• The new ordinance sets 20 mph as the default citywide, lowering speeds 5 to 10 mph in most neighborhoods, on many collector and arterial streets and in the downtown core.
• Safety was the driving factor. Advocates say a pedestrian’s chance of surviving being hit by a car doubles when speeds drop from 30 mph to 20 mph.
• Downtown will be the only arterial network posted at 20 mph, with new signs going up this summer. Other changes will roll out in phases over three years across more than 500 lane miles.
• Public Works moved away from the traditional 85th percentile rule and instead used guidance from the National Association of City Transportation Officials’ “City Limits” report.
• To help with enforcement, the city plans to seek a Washington Traffic Safety Commission grant for motorcycles, which could help revive the traffic unit mothballed in 2022 due to a police staffing shortage.

The summary points above were compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists. The full story in the link at top was reported, written and edited entirely by journalists.