Traffic safety: speed limits.

Existing law establishes various default speed limits for vehicles upon highways, as specified. Existing law requires the Department of Transportation, by regulation, to require speed limits to be rounded up or down to the nearest 5 miles per hour of the 85th percentile of free-flowing traffic. Existing law authorizes a local authority to additionally lower the speed limit in specified circumstances, or retain the currently adopted speed limit in certain circumstances. This bill would authorize the department to additionally lower or retain the speed limit in those specified circumstances. Existing law authorizes a local authority, if it finds the speed limit derived from the 85th percentile to be higher than reasonable or safe, to reduce the speed limit an additional 5 miles per hour for specified reasons, including, but not limited to, that the portion of highway is designated as a safety corridor, as defined by the department. Existing law also authorizes a local authority to retain or restore the immediately prior adopted speed limit under specified circumstances. This bill would similarly authorize the department to set, on a highway that is not a freeway, a speed limit, or retain or restore the immediately prior adopted speed limit under those specified circumstances. Under certain circumstances, existing law authorizes a local authority to set, by ordinance, a 25- or 20-mile-per-hour facie speed limit on specified highways. This bill would similarly authorize the department to set, by regulation, for a highway that is not a freeway, a 25- or 20-mile-per-hour prima facie speed limit. Existing law requires a local authority to issue only warning citations for specified speed limit violations for the first 30 days that a lower speed limit is in effect. This bill would instead impose this requirement on any peace officer.