Clarendon Cycles: Slower Streets Are Safer Streets

By Mark Blacknell

Last week the signs went up, reminding everyone about the new 25-mph speed limit through some of Arlington’s busiest neighborhoods. This is a good move, and if it’s paired with actual enforcement, it will help improve street safety for everyone at very little cost to anyone.

The move from 30 mph (the old limit) to 25 mph is particularly welcome for pedestrians and cyclists. As speed limits drop, so do deaths and severe injuries. It’s not a linear drop, either – there’s an enormous difference between the human body’s ability to survive an impact at 30 mph and one at 20 mph. While 25 mph isn’t quite the 20 mph goal that has had such positive effects in London and other cities, it’s a step in the right direction.

Speed limits themselves, of course, don’t accomplish anything by simply being on the books. Driver observation of these limits is what makes the actual difference, and if the new limit is going to have an impact, Arlington County will have to act to move drivers to comply with the law.

Compliance isn’t asking a lot. For a drive from Ballston to Rosslyn, the time added by the new speed limit – if any – is measured in seconds.

Police ticketing is the most obvious outside nudge toward driver observation. Despite the predictable wailing from some quarters about the speed limit being a revenue generation scheme, Arlington County police don’t appear to engage in regular speed limit enforcement along the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor. It may be time to do that, especially after the new signs have been up for a while.

On the other hand, for streets as busy as Clarendon and Wilson boulevards, lower speed limits are naturally enforced by on-street parking, narrower streets, and other users on the road.

Before Clarendon's redevelopment and street improvements took place in the early 2000s, it wasn’t too hard to blow through Clarendon at 45 mph. Now? It’s rather difficult to exceed 30 mph for more than a few seconds. Perhaps that’s one of the reasons we don’t see regular speed limit enforcement in the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor. Hopefully we’ll see the same changes come to Lee Highway and Columbia Pike over time.

Slower streets don’t just benefit cyclists and other vulnerable road users. Slower streets are more pleasant to shop along. Slower streets make for better sidewalk cafes. Slower streets give drivers more time to react.

Slower streets create a better Arlington.

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Speaking of enforcement, texting while driving is now a primary offense in Virginia. That means you can be pulled over and ticketed for texting while driving alone. If the police can figure out a way to successfully enforce this law, I bet that doing so would have an enormous impact on traffic safety. From my perspective on the bike (where I have to constantly look at drivers and anticipate their actions), texting while driving is a huge problem. Of course, we shouldn’t need the police to explain that. Make the choice yourself to put the phone down when you get in the car, and refuse to talk to others while they’re driving. And yes, cyclists, I’m talking to you, too.

Mark Blacknell is a member of the Arlington Bicycle Advisory Committee, president of the Washington Area Bicyclist Association, and a League Cycling Instructor.