Testimony: 2025 Montgomery County local bill MC 1-25, Maximum Speed Limits

WABA’s asking the Montgomery County State Legislative Delegation to approve a bill that would allow speed-limit reduction without an engineering and traffic investigation.

You can view this document in PDF form here.

MC 1-25 – Montgomery County – Highways – Maximum Speed Limits

Washington Area Bicyclist Association – FAVORABLE WITH AMENDMENT

December 9, 2024

Chairs Kramer and Palakovich Carr and Members of the Montgomery County Delegation,

Speed kills. According to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), "Studies clearly show that higher speeds result in greater impact at the time of a crash, which leads to more severe injuries and fatalities." For instance, a 2011 technical report published by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, “Impact Speed and a Pedestrian’s Risk of Severe Injury or Death,” found that the average risk of severe injury to a pedestrian increased with vehicle speed from 10% at 16 MPH, 25% at 23 MPH, 50% at 31 MPH, and higher at higher speeds.

WABA supports bill MC 1-25, which would allow speed-limit reduction to 15 MPH in Montgomery County without an engineering and traffic investigation. We recommend an amendment that would extend this authorization to Gaithersburg and Rockville and clarify which streets are covered. This suggested amendment is a technical adjustment that is wholly in keeping with the intent of the bill.

Amendment

Specifically, we suggest the Delegation modify lines 24-26 on page 2 and 1-2 on page 3 as follows:

IN MONTGOMERY COUNTY, A LOCAL AUTHORITY MAY DECREASE THE MAXIMUM SPEED LIMIT ON A HIGHWAY UNDER SUBSUBPARAGRAPH 1 OF THIS SUBPARAGRAPH WITHOUT PERFORMING AN ENGINEERING AND TRAFFIC INVESTIGATION, IN ACCORDANCE WITH A COMPLETE STREETS POLICY AS DEFINED IN § 2-112 OF THE TRANSPORTATION ARTICLE THAT IS APPLICABLE TO THE HIGHWAY ~~IF THE HIGHWAY HAS A SPECIFIED TARGET SPEED IDENTIFIED BY THE MONTGOMERY COUNTY COMPLETE STREETS DESIGN GUIDE~~.

Planning documents adopted by the Montgomery County Council including the county’s Complete Streets Design Guide, Pedestrian Master Plan, and Master Plan of Highways and Transitways provide analysis, design, and engineering guidance that is equivalent to the engineering and traffic investigation currently required by Maryland Transportation Code. They constitute the complete streets policy that the recommended amendment would require, for an exemption from the engineering and traffic investigation requirement.

Precedent

There is a precedent for MC 1-25. Transportation Article § 21-803 (5) states “Baltimore City may, without performing an engineering and traffic investigation, decrease the maximum speed limit on a highway under its jurisdiction.” The reason for this exemption is that Baltimore City adopted a Complete Streets program in 2018.

MC 1-25 would effectively extend Baltimore’s exemption to Montgomery County and county municipalities.

Montgomery County Policy

The county’s Complete Streets Design Guide was developed by Montgomery Planning and enacted by the Montgomery County Council. It is county policy. It designates a Target Speed of 20 MPH for Downtown Streets, Neighborhood Connectors, Neighborhood Streets, Neighborhood Yield Streets, and certain Country Roads, in particular for stretches where they “operate as neighborhood streets for short segments.”

Recommendation P-9 of Montgomery County’s Pedestrian Master Plan, adopted in October by the County Council, is “Comprehensively lower speed limits countywide." The text explains, “Higher traffic speeds are directly linked to crash severity. In pursuit of Vision Zero, the county should continue efforts to lower speed limits in neighborhoods and along major roadways, with a goal of having the roadway’s posted speed limit match the target speed outlined in the CSDG [Complete Streets Design Guide].”

Montgomery County has been inhibited from reducing speed limits in accordance with county policy by the current engineering and traffic investigation requirement.

That’s why we have Recommendation P-9a, to “Support state legislation to allow jurisdiction-wide speed limit reduction.” The detail text reads, “Montgomery County’s ability to lower the posted and statutory speed limit along residential streets is limited by state law... The county should support all legislation that offers local agencies more flexibility in setting speed limits in line with county goals.”

MC 1-25 responds directly to a recommendation adopted by the Montgomery Planning Board and Council.

Summary

Reduction benefits are incontrovertible. Yet we have this lingering requirement for an investigation on a road-by-road basis, which is expensive and onerous. You can modernize code and boost Montgomery County road safety by advancing MC 1-25.

WABA therefore urges you to support MC 1-25 and work in Annapolis in the coming months to enact it.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify on this legislation.

advocacy@waba.org

More about Maryland Legislation

WABA develops and advocates for state legislation to make bicycling in Maryland safer and more accessible and for state funding to expand Maryland’s bicycle network, working directly with legislators and Maryland Dept. of Transportation (MDOT) leadership and as part of the Bike Maryland coalition. We also work on broader road-safety, transit, and environmental legislation and funding, typically as part of larger statewide coalitions. The annual Maryland legislative session runs from January to April, but our work developing legislation starts the preceding summer.

We’re thrilled that several bills we worked on or supported were enacted in 2024, directing an MDOT Vision Zero Coordinator and public review process; the Better Bus Service Act, allowing bus-lane enforcement cameras (with bikes allowed); authorizing stop-sign cameras near schools in Prince George's County; and the Sarah Debbink Langenkamp Memorial Act, addressing penalties for hitting a cyclist in a bike lane.

Our 2024 advocacy included unsuccessful efforts that we will likely pursue in future years. (It often takes years to pass a bill. ) These include a Great Maryland Trails Act, an E-bike Rebate and Voucher Program bill, and a bill addressing maintenance responsibility for sidewalks and bike paths along state roads. Another topic on our list for 2025 is contributory negligence, a prejudicial statute that says that if a crash victim is even only 1% at fault, then they are liable and may not recover (full) costs and damages from the party largely at fault.

More about Montgomery County Legislation

More about Laws & Policy

WABA works with grassroots advocates at the local, county and state level to support laws and policies that make it easier and safer to walk, bike, and take transit. And we work to changes ones that make biking less safe, make it harder to build bike infrastructure, or that deprioritize the safety and convenience of people walking, biking, or taking transit.

In practice that means advocating for robust and transformative Vision Zero programs, enforceable Complete Streets policies, and funding for new infrastructure that supports biking, walking and transit.

Other regional legislative priorities include:

Reforming Contributory Negligence (passed in DC, in the works in Maryland and Virginia).
Getting rid of the Level of Service engineering standards in transportation decision-making.
Funding E-bike purchase rebates.

More about Advocacy

WABA fights for a region where biking, walking and transit are the best ways to get around.

We educate policymakers and organize grassroots advocates for to speak up for safer places to bike and walk; and for laws and policies that protect people who are walking and biking, reduce dangerous driving, and facilitate changes to the built environment.