As L.A. struggles to reduce traffic deaths, speed limits keep going up

Los Angeles has faced a Catch-22 for decades on miles of major streets. Zelzah’s growing speed limits epitomize the catch-22 that Los Angeles officials have faced for decades on dozens of miles of major city streets: Raise the speed limit, or lose the ability to write most speeding tickets. “It’s costing people their lives.” Los Angeles has worked frantically to update speed limits so traffic officers can resume their work, renewing the speed limits on more than 650 miles of streets in the last two years. “A city does a speed survey to enforce the speed limit — except now, people can drive faster.” He added: “There’s no human on Earth that can look at this and say, with a straight face, ‘That makes complete sense,’ except the LAPD and the LADOT.” California’s speed limit law was first drafted more than five decades ago, when police officers first began using radar guns to catch speeders. “But most people don’t really know what the speed limit is when they’re driving.” That’s true, city officials say — and instead, street designs need to change to force people to drive more slowly.