Testimony: Montgomery County Speed Limits

WABA supports HB 612 to allow Montgomery County and county municipalities to lower speed limits because there is already a Complete Streets Design Guide and Pedestrian Master Plan in place.

You can view this document in PDF form here.

HB 612 – Montgomery County – Highways – Maximum Speed Limits MC 10-24
Washington Area Bicyclist Association
FAVORABLE WITH AMENDMENT

February 29, 2024

Chairs Korman and Committee Members,

The Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA) is an advocacy organization with 1,200 Maryland members that is active in Montgomery County. We support bill HB 612 with amendment to allow speed camera placement after a waiting period.

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.

In response, HB 612 would strike eight no-longer-needed words from Maryland’s Transportation Article, the stipulation that Montgomery County and county municipalities may lower speed limits “only after performing an engineering and traffic investigation.” This requirement is no longer needed given the county’s 2021 adoption of a Complete Streets Design Guide as well as the development of functional master plans such as the Pedestrian Master Plan, which was adopted earlier this fall.

These plans provide analysis, design, and engineering guidance that is equivalent to the current law’s investigation. There is a precedent for your advancing MC 10-24 on this basis. 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. HB 612 would extend Baltimore’s exemption to Montgomery County and county municipalities.

Gaithersburg and Rockville, which have their own planning authority, and other county municipalities may apply the county’s Complete Streets Design Guide to city-owned streets.

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.”

HB 612 responds directly to a recommendation adopted by the Montgomery County Council. The bill and the proposed amendment to allow speed camera placement are supported by the Montgomery County Delegation.

Speed-reduction benefits are incontrovertible. Yet we have this lingering requirement for an investigation on a road-by-road basis, which is expensive and onerous and no longer needed given Montgomery County’s planning and engineering efforts. You can modernize code and boost Montgomery County road safety by advancing HB 612.

WABA therefore urges HB 612 amendment and a Favorable committee report and General Assembly enactment.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify on this legislation.

Seth Grimes, WABA Maryland organizer

seth.grimes@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 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.