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How do you combat the speedsters racing down Claremont Avenue? Raise the speed limit, some say. 

That might seem contradictory to most rational folk. But there’s method in the proposal the City Council will face on Tuesday. 

A draft resolution recommends that the city raise the speed limit on Claremont Avenue from 25 miles per hour to 30 miles per hour. 

That is because the state controls traffic law. And the state law looks at how fast 85 percent of the people travel on a particular street and not at what speed is posted. On Claremont, 85 percent of the traffic move at 36 miles per hour. The police cannot enforce the 25 mph speed limit because the courts look at the actual speed people drive and say that Berkeley’s speed limit is unrealistic. 

“They’ll throw out the tickets,” said Councilmember Polly Armstrong, who is supporting the resolution. 

If the speed limit were raised to 30 mph, police will be able to enforce the speed at 10 miles above the limit, and cite people driving at 40 mph, says Traffic Engineer Reh-Lin Chen. 

So the enforcement would increase, even though the limit is set higher. 

The legal system considers Berkeley’s 25 mph zone a “speed trap,” Armstrong says, explaining the origins of the law. In the past, small towns in the south would set up speed traps to raise funds to run their cities. State law views Berkeley’s “unrealistic” posted speeds as a speed trap, she said. 

Calling the change “critical,” Armstrong concedes that raising the speed limit to get people to drive slower is “totally counterintuitive.” 

Dean Metzger, active with the Claremont-Elmwood Neighborhood Association, says raising the speed limit will put more pressure on the police to go after those who are truly speeding. 

“We need to catch the people going 40 miles an hour,” he said. 

Not everyone is happy at the thought of upping the speed limit. In fact, the Transportation Commission voted against the concept in December. Former Transportation Commissioner Hank Resnik said the heart of the problem lies in Claremont’s four-lane configuration. 

“It boils down to the fact that this is one of the few streets where (drivers) can go fast,” he said. 

The Transportation Commission, however, rejected a controversial proposal to create a two, rather than four-lane street. 

Resnik said raising the speed limit to cut the speed is heavily dependent on law enforcement. 

“Are we going to see stepped-up law enforcement?” he asked. And, if so, what other street will the officers be taken from? 

Dave Campbell, who heads the Bicycle Friendly Berkeley Coalition, said a law wending its way through the state legislature – AB 1885 by Assemblymember Lou Correa, D-Orange County – will go a long way toward empowering cities to control traffic as they see fit. The cities will have the right to set speed limits, which the courts will enforce. 

The bill was approved by the full assembly 43 to 27 on May 18, and will go to the Senate Transportation Commission on Tuesday. 

“It will allow Berkeley to set a speed limit on Claremont,” he set, calling on lawmakers to hold off on the vote and save the $1,000 it will cost to replace the 25-mile-per-hour signs with the 30 mph signs. “The prudent course is to save 1,000 bucks. If the bill passes, all Berkeley has to do is send a police officer over there.”