Bill proposes slower speeds in school zones

CAMPBELL, Calif. - Most drivers are aware that the speed limit around schools is typically 25 miles per hour, but a new bill proposed by South Bay Assemblyman Marc Berman could alter this standard.

Assembly Bill 2583, titled the "Safer School Zones" bill, comes in response to a tragic incident where a child from the South Bay community was fatally struck by a vehicle while walking to school.

The bill would cap speed limits in school zones to no more than 20 miles per hour. Lorna Wilson, a crossing guard at Castlemont Elementary in Campbell for over a decade, expressed support.

"I love it - hopefully drivers will adhere to that," she said. "But drivers are going to do what they're going to do."

Berman's bill would also require signs that list the specific times when reduced speed limits would be in effect.

"The generic times are 7 to 10 a.m. or 2 to 5 p.m. with the ability for communities to change those times," he said. 

Berman said he believes this would help with enforcement: "Instead of it being some arbitrary standard of 'when children are present' - it's clear times."

Parents like the idea.

"It makes sense," said transitional kindergarten parent, David Onyngo. "Especially around schools, because people just zip by."

Policymakers, alongside school board members and community leaders, gathered outside Castlemont Elementary to advocate for the passage of the Safer School Zones Act.

"We are determined that Jacob's death not be in vain, and this is one more step in the right direction," said Campbell Union School District Superintendent Shelly Viramontez, referencing the crash that killed 8-year-old Jacob Villanueva in September 2022.

The third-grader was in the crosswalk on his way to Castlemont School when he was struck by a car and later died at the hospital.

In the months after the tragedy, the city and the school district made changes to the intersections around the school. They added pylons and pushed the crosswalks several feet away from the stop signs.

"Traffic violence is the number one cause of death for California's school-age children - it's not disease, it's not guns, it's not drowning. It's getting hit by a car," said Kirsten Bladh, associate director of state policy for the pedestrian safety advocacy group, Safe Streets for All. 

The group supports AB 2583.

The State Assembly Transportation Committee will decide whether to move AB 2583 forward at its meeting next month.