City committee to discuss lowering Chicago’s speed limit to 25 MPH

CHICAGO — The City Council’s Committee on Pedestrian and Traffic Safety on Monday could take its first vote on proposals that would lower the city’s speed limit and permit residents to submit photos of parking violations for enforcement, according to a published agenda .

The measures were introduced in July by Ald. Daniel La Spata (1st Ward), the chair of the committee, with the backing of transit and biking advocates, and stem from the city’s 2017 “ Vision Zero ” plan to eliminate traffic deaths by 2026.

The speed limit measure would amend the city’s existing ordinance, reducing the speed limit from a maximum 30 MPH to 25 MPH on city streets. It would not apply to streets owned by the Illinois Department of Transportation.

The city says that 70 percent of the traffic fatalities last year involved motorists traveling at high speeds. City data shows that a person struck by a vehicle traveling 30 MPH has a 60 percent chance of survival. That chance of survival increases to about 95 percent if the person is struck by a vehicle traveling 20 MPH.

“If you think about it from a logic standpoint, when a car is going faster it takes longer to stop. So when a car is going 30 miles an hour it takes about 120 feet to stop and just a 5 mile reduction it can stop at 85 feet. It gives cars a chance to stop,” said Audrey Wennink, the senior director of the Metropolitan Planning Council , which supports the change.

New York and San Francisco have seen reductions in fatalities since reducing their speed limits, Wennink said.

Data provided to WGN shows traffic fatalities in Chicago are on pace with last year, down from a peak in 2021 but still higher than pre-pandemic levels.

The photo enforcement measure would create a pilot program that would allow citizens to submit photos of vehicles illegally parked in bike and bus lines to the city through 311. The city’s Department of Finance would then issue citations to the vehicle’s registered owners after two warnings.

The meeting is scheduled for Monday at 10 a.m. in the City Council chambers.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WGN-TV.