On Wednesday, aldermen will decide if the top speed limit on Chicago streets should be dropped from 30 mph to 25 mph.
On Friday, Ald. Daniel La Spata told his colleagues that the final vote will happen at next week’s City Council meeting. The alderman from the Northwest Side has been pushing for months for the speed limit to change. He said that his law was a necessary safety measure.
La Spata, 1st, said on Friday, “We know that it works and we know that it will save lives.” “Ten years ago was the best time.” Now is the next best time.
La Spata first talked about the idea of lowering speed limits at a hearing in early May. At the time, he said there would be no laws “sitting under the table.” But by October, his proposal to slow down traffic had been approved by the Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee of the council by a vote of 8 to 5.
The plan was for a final vote to happen in late October, but he put the move on hold after Mayor Brandon Johnson spoke out against it. Johnson said he told La Spata to “slow it down” so that the lower minimum speed for getting a ticket would be applied fairly.
Johnson said after the vote was called off, “My commitment to safe streets is real, and I will continue to support measures to make streets safer.” When we talk about fairness, we need to talk about how to make it happen. We should also think carefully about where these differences have been common in the past so that we don’t make the same mistakes again.
La Spata said on Friday that he hasn’t talked to Johnson about his plan to force a vote, but that Johnson has been “enthusiastically supportive” in the past.
The man said, “I want that to be true.” “We talk a lot about safety policies in this city, but I don’t think we will pass a policy that is more data-driven and based on evidence that will keep more Chicagoans alive.”
The councilman thought that the change would save 300 lives over the next ten years. He had said before that 136 people died in crashes in Chicago in 2023, which is about the same number of people who were hit by gunshots.
The law would also lower the speed limit in Chicago alleys to 15 mph. However, it would not affect roads that are run by the Illinois Department of Transportation, which includes many of the busiest streets in the city.
If the law passes, though, changes could be made to state-run streets. La Spata said that lawmakers from the state told him that IDOT will probably change the speed limit based on what the City Council says. Seven state lawmakers backed the measure and said it would have “hugely positive effects on public health.”
An internal report from the Chicago Department of Transportation that La Spata shared also backed the bill as “a reasonable and safe approach.” Changes to traffic signs have been made in places like New York, Seattle, and Boston, which the department said would cost $2.5 million.
La Spata also asked for a vote on a resolution to set up an interagency working group whose job it would be to come up with a fairer way to impose fines and fees related to vehicles.
Leave a Comment