By Mary O’KEEFE

The California State Senate passed resolution SR 60, which makes February Speed Safety Awareness Month.

The resolution was authored by Susan Rubio and co-sponsored by Streets Are For Everyone (SAFE), a non-profit organization that is focused on street safety. SAFE members encourage residents and community organizations to support efforts to reduce speeding and raise awareness of traffic related deaths in California.

“We risk the lives of our children, family members and neighbors when we don’t manage our speed,” said Damian Kevitt, executive director of SAFE. “Senator Rubio’s leadership on speed safety awareness and efforts to protect all road users is deeply appreciated. My hope is that this resolution will bring even more attention to this ever-increasing public health crisis and the need to address it through legislation and a safe systems approach to traffic safety.”

In February 2013, Kevitt was bicycling with his wife along the LA River Bike path toward the LA Zoo when the driver of a minivan struck him. The driver did not stop and in an apparent effort to flee the scene sped away pinning Kevitt underneath the vehicle. The driver then accelerated onto the 5 Freeway. Kevitt was dragged about 600 feet until he was able to free himself. He lost his right leg to this accident and during his recovery he decided to dedicate his life to street safety for all users. He has spent time with grieving parents, friends and family members who have lost loved ones to preventable speed-related traffic violence.

Senator Rubio, a former public school teacher and vice-principal, said that protecting children and families from preventable tragedies was a major motivating factor for her in authoring the bill.

“Driving fast on local roads can be deadly, especially for our children and their parents walking to school,” said Senator Rubio. “A recent study found that nearly 50% of cars are driving 11 miles per hour or higher above the speed limit in school zones. When I was a vice principal, I had to handle traffic at my school because it was so dangerous. Parents and children would struggle to walk safely as cars sped by in the school zone and one year a student was struck by a car and killed. Deaths like this don’t need to happen if communities emphasize the importance of safe driving and speed limits are enforced.”

Since the beginning of the pandemic, there has been a dramatic increase throughout the state in dangerous driving and speeding cars. While across the state there’s been a 3.9% increase in traffic fatalities in the last three years [between 2018-20] in some areas the increase has been higher, according to Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System (SWITRS).

The City of Los Angeles saw a 24% increase in fatalities in 2021 compared to 2020, according the LA Police Dept. tracking system.

Other areas of the state have seen dramatic increases in fatalities including Kern County, which has seen a 44.1% increase in fatalities, while Fresno County has seen a 43.5% increase in fatalities over the last three years [2018 to 20220], according to SWITRS.

Data gathered by the California Highway Patrol indicates the number of drivers speeding over 100 miles per hour on the state’s highways nearly doubled between 2019 and 2020. The California Legislature passed two bills directly related to speed and street safety in the fall, but two other bills, including one authored by Senator Rubio that would have authorized the limited use of automated speed enforcement cameras in school zones that were found to be dangerous, died in committee, according to SAFE.