Progress is being made in San Diego toward implementing a state law that gives local governments authority to reduce speed limits on roads contiguous to a business district and others deemed particularly unsafe for pedestrians and bicyclists. Advocates hope La Jolla Boulevard will be part of that.
Earlier this year, the City Council voted unanimously to adopt Assembly Bill 43 citywide, starting with busy street segments in select neighborhoods including Pacific Beach and Mission Beach.
Soon after, the Vision Zero Coalition submitted a $150,000 budget request to make applicable speed limit reductions in school zones, including the streets near Bird Rock Elementary in La Jolla.
The Vision Zero Coalition includes groups such as the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition, Families for Safe Streets San Diego, Climate Action Campaign, Circulate San Diego, SanDiego350 and BeautifulPB.
At the August meeting of the La Jolla Community Planning Association, trustee and Bird Rock resident Harry Bubbins expressed thanks to City Council President and fellow Bird Rock resident Joe LaCava for his work on implementing AB 43 and said he was “very happy” that progress was being made.
Bird Rock resident Harry Bubbins, a board member of the La Jolla Community Planning Association, has been advocating a speed limit reduction on La Jolla Boulevard since 2022. (Ashley Mackin-Solomon)
Adopting AB 43, Bubbins told the La Jolla Light, “means the city formally enacted the necessary local ordinance to utilize the authority granted by the state law, moving beyond just planning into actual action.”
LaCava, as council president, “played a central role in prioritizing this legislation, guiding it through the council process, ensuring its passage,” Bubbins said. “This is a significant action demonstrating his support and commitment to using AB 43. This is a concrete action step.”
Bubbins said planned next phases include “implementing lower speeds in school zones and other areas with high crash rates or vulnerability.”
“Advocates are specifically hopeful that La Jolla Boulevard [where the speed limit is 35 mph near Bird Rock Elementary) will be included in these next phases of AB 43 implementation or other safety initiatives, given its proximity to the school and high pedestrian/cyclist activity, especially with Tourmaline Surfing Park.”
Bubbins has been advocating a speed limit reduction on La Jolla Boulevard since 2022, when he started an online petition calling to reduce the limit on the stretch between Pacific Beach and Bird Rock from 35 mph to whatever is deemed appropriate. The petition garnered 329 signatures.
Bubbins said implementing AB 43 gives the city the tools to lower the speed limit on “high-risk streets like La Jolla Boulevard, where 35 mph is dangerously fast near an elementary school and a high pedestrian, bike and car area of Tourmaline Beach. Advocates are counting on the city to follow through with the next phases, because every day of delay puts vulnerable road users at risk.”
Background
Assembly Bill 43 was signed into law in fall 2021, and since then, several California cities have taken the cue to reduce speed limits across hundreds of miles of roadway.
In November 2022, San Diego City Councilman Stephen Whitburn called for the city Transportation Department to use AB 43 to develop a list of streets recommended for speed limit reduction, “with priority given to streets with ahistory of fatal and severe injury collisions.”
In May 2024, the La Jolla Traffic & Transportation Board gave its support to implementing AB 43. ♦
More on speed limits:
Is reduced speed limit in La Jolla Shores plausible? Traffic board ponders effectiveness