Drivers on Point San Pedro Road between Marina Boulevard and Porto Bello Drive will soon face a lower speed limit after the San Rafael City Council unanimously approved a reduction from 40 mph to 35 mph.

The council voted on the change as part of its Phase 2 Assembly Bill 43 safety package, which affects 18 street segments citywide.

The Point San Pedro Road Coalition, which has pushed for years to bring uniform, lower speeds to the entire corridor, backed the change and spoke at the council meeting urging the city to keep evaluating additional reductions along the remainder of the road, according to the coalition's website.

Kevin Hagerty, a coalition board member, told the council during the Phase 2 hearing in late July that the group supports the reductions. "We hope this action will result in the city considering the future speed reductions of the rest of Point San Pedro Road," Hagerty said, as reported by the Marin Independent Journal.

A history of speed creep

Councilmember Rachel Kertz noted during the hearing that sections of Point San Pedro Road were raised to 40 mph in 2016 despite a high collision history that included a pedestrian fatality on the county-controlled portion of the road, which is separate from the city segment covered by the new ordinance.

That 2016 increase is an example of what traffic engineers call "speed creep." Under state law, limits are set based on the 85th percentile of free-flowing traffic. Faster drivers push the baseline upward, and limits can rise every seven years when cities update their required traffic surveys.

Traffic consultant Jimmy Jessup of Parametrix, who analyzed the roads for the city's plan, told the council that high speed is the primary collision factor in the greatest number of San Rafael crashes. A pedestrian struck at 20 mph faces a 10% chance of death, Jessup said. At 40 mph, that figure jumps to 80%.

How AB 43 changes the formula

California Assembly Bill 43, which took effect in 2022, gives cities more flexibility to lower speed limits in business and residential districts with documented safety concerns, particularly where pedestrians, cyclists, children, seniors, and people with disabilities are concentrated. Under the old state formula, cities were largely locked into setting limits based on the fastest drivers on a given road.

San Rafael adopted a local road safety plan in 2024 that recommended lowering limits on high-crash segments in compliance with AB 43. The city conducted a new traffic analysis over the past two years to support the Phase 2 reductions.

Mayor Kate Colin framed the vote as a direct fulfillment of the city's Vision Zero commitment to eliminate all traffic deaths and serious injuries. Colin said at the hearing that the action is "100% following that commitment and that policy," as reported by the Marin Independent Journal.

What's next

The coalition said it will continue updating the community as the council considers future speed limit changes along the rest of Point San Pedro Road. No date has been set for those evaluations. Residents can track the city's AB 43 efforts at cityofsanrafael.org.