DATE: December 3, 2025
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Councilmembers
FROM: Public Works Department
TITLE: INTRODUCE AN ORDINANCE TO ESTABLISH SPEED LIMITS UPON VARIOUS STREETS
RECOMMENDATION
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Staff recommends that the City Council introduce an ordinance amending Article XIV, Section 14.1 of the Oceanside Traffic Code by establishing various new speed limits on streets identified in Table A (Attachment A).
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BACKGROUND AND ANALYSIS
The basic speed law, per the California Vehicle Code (CVC), Section 22350, states, "No person shall drive a vehicle upon a highway at a speed greater than is reasonable or prudent having due regard for weather, visibility, the traffic on, and the surface and width of, the highway, and in no event at a speed which endangers the safety of persons or property."
Speed limits are established by either of the two following conditions:
* Statute: Speed limits established by state legislature, including statutory maximum speed limits (such as maximum speed limit of 55 miles per hour, mph, on two-lane undivided roadway) and prima facie speed limits by statute (such as 25 mph in a residence/business district). Prima facie speed limits are a type of statutory speed limit that applies in designated special areas or zones. For statutory speed limits, corresponding Engineering & Traffic Surveys (E&TSs) are not required and they are enforceable by law even if the speed limit sign is not posted.
* Speed Zone: A speed zone is the speed limit established based on an E&TS for a particular segment of a roadway, for which a statutory speed limit is not appropriate (such as, lowing the speed limit for a 55 mph road when 85 percent of the traffic is traveling at 35 mph or below). A speed zone is established by local governments by ordinance through preparation of an E&TS. For speed limits established by a local government ordinance, E&TSs and their resulting speed limit findings are enforceable by law after the proper signs giving notic...
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