San Francisco is set to slow drivers near schools. Here's the new proposed speed limit

Frazzled parents may soon have to slow down when dropping kids off at school in San Francisco under a proposal that goes before the city's transportation board on Tuesday.

The pending rule, enabled by a state law that Gov. Gavin Newsom signed last year, would set speed limits at between 15 and 20 mph within 500 feet of all schools, regardless of whether they are public or private. While the law gives cities until 2031 to lower school-zone speeds from the currently allowable 25 mph, leaders at the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency want to start tightening standards before students pour in for the fall school semester.

Citywide school speed limits will appear among a list of other noncontroversial items on the board's consent calendar, which the directors typically approve with one perfunctory vote.

Assuming the new plan moves forward, crews will immediately begin posting signs near six school campuses. These include Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts, Dr. William L. Cobb Elementary School, St. Anthony-Immaculate Conception School, Roosevelt Middle School, Jefferson Elementary School and Leonard R. Flynn Elementary School. Over the next two years, the new school speed limits would be implemented citywide.

"Nothing matters more than helping children get to school safely," SFMTA's Director of Transportation, Julie Kirschbaum, said in a statement touting the speed limit proposal. Mayor Daniel Lurie echoed that sentiment, praising officials for embracing a "simple, proven step to help prevent crashes and save lives." 

Supervisor Myrna Melgar, a spirited advocate for safe streets and crosswalks, noted that the new rules, and the signs conveying them, would impart an important lesson to children "before they enter the classroom."

Any San Francisco driver who routinely drives through school zones should brace for 15 mph maximum speeds on roads with two lanes, or 20 miles per hour on wider, multilane arteries. Autonomous vehicles will also be expected to abide by the rules, officials said. Representatives of Waymo indicated that compliance would not be a problem.

"The Waymo Driver is designed to follow the posted speed limit, and this will remain the case if these new rules take effect," a spokesperson for the Alphabet-backed company wrote in an email to the Chronicle, referring to the company's self-driving sensor and artificial intelligence system. The company expressed fervent support for slower streets as a precaution to stave off crash injuries and fatalities.

Apart from lowering speed limits, SFMTA has launched several other projects to protect students this fall, including a quick-build with protected bike lanes and highly visible crosswalks at the new Mission Bay Elementary School. To date, speed cameras in school zones have "reduced dangerous speeding by up to 90%," SFMTA spokespeople said, comparing current road conditions to those prior to the installation of the enforcement technology.

Subscribe

Read this story on sfchronicle.com