Springer's magic number may be 30

The Los Altos City Council last week faced a traffic speed question it has faced before: Do you raise the speed limit to nab speeders?

Last fall, the council raised the speed limit on Springer Road from 25 mph to 30 mph as part of a trial program to help, ironically, with traffic enforcement. State law dictates that police can’t use radar in 25 mph zones to track speeders if 85 percent of the vehicles are traveling over the speed limit. Raising the limit to 30 does allow for radar, however.

Recognizing, as traffic engineer Tom Ho points out, that traffic enforcement lowers the overall speed of vehicles, the council rightfully opted to keep Springer at 30 mph. But it gets better. Los Altos officials have been negotiating with Mountain View about a consistent 30 mph speed limit on Springer (the street crosses over into both communities) from Foothill Expressway to the El Monte Road intersection. Mountain View officials are receptive to the idea.

Ho said Mountain View councilmembers will consider a speed limit change at a meeting in August.

Meanwhile, Los Altos councilmembers last week agreed to send a message to state lawmakers about the 85th percentile rule - a law that basically ties the hands of traffic officers in quiet communities with low speed limits. We applaud their efforts to lobby state lawmakers about righting this wrong.

The bottom line here is increasing safety along a fairly busy two-lane road. We’re encouraged to hear that Los Altos - and soon, Mountain View - is taking steps to make this happen.