Thumbnail photo: County supervisors and residents are seeking to potentially lower the speed limit on Fred Haight Drive near the Smith River townsite. | Photo courtesy of Michelle Carrillo Michelle Carrillo rejected the idea that hearing a person’s lived experience isn’t data. Appearing before Del Norte County supervisors about three weeks after a car struck and killed her family’s dog near their Fred Haight Drive home, Carrillo said that she spent a month speaking with neighbors who shared stories of near misses and dead animals. It may be qualitative data, but it’s still data, she said Tuesday, and taking no action to try to reduce speeds on the Smith River thoroughfare was untenable. “We’re in an agricultural area of the county with multiple uses happening at once from farm equipment, school activities, residential driveways, pedestrians and through traffic,” Carrillo said. “I understand there are certain things we have to figure out there and it’s not going to be a uniform speed across the whole road, that makes sense, but 50 on any section of that road does not make sense.” The Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the engineering and traffic study needed to support reducing the speed limit on Fred Haight Drive. This decision comes after a Del Norte-sponsored piece of legislation — AB 1014 — took effect at the beginning of January that allows local communities greater flexibility when it comes to setting the speed limit. According to District 3 Supervisor Chris Howard, who represents Smith River, AB 1014 means that Del Norte County and other communities won’t have other comply with California’s 85th percentile rule when it comes to setting speed limits. Howard, who had worked with Assemblyman Chris Rogers to get AB 1014 to the governor's desk for a signature last year, said he wanted to start to “see if we can make a difference that slows cars down.” According to Howard, the California Highway Patrol has also been asking for an engineering and traffic study so they can curtail speeding on Del Norte’s collector streets. “I was always warned by Jim Barnts, our county engineer, many many times that we don’t want to open up this can of worms of highway speeds because we will see the 85th percentile move into action and it’s only going to increase the speeds on our county roads,” Howard said. “Well, today’s the day I get to say to Jim Barnts, ‘We got legislation that allows us to do just the opposite.” Howard’s colleague, District 1 Supervisor Darrin Short, also suggested exploring the possibility of implementing speed humps and other traffic calming measures to slow down motorists. The current county engineer, Jon Olson, promised to look through every possible option available within the California Vehicle Code that would assist Del Norte in making its streets safer. Citing U.C. Berkeley’s Safe Transportation Research and Education Center, he brought up the different classifications for the various roads in a community from interstates to principal arterial roads to major and minor collector roads and, finally, local roads. On local roads, Olson said, which in Smith River, includes Rainbow Lane, North Street and 3rd Street, the county can set speed limits by ordinance — speed studies aren’t required. “It’s not just our local roads, it’s those specific functional classifications,” he said. “If it’s not a local road, then there are certain prima facia speed limits that are set. A school zone is the most specific example that most folks can relate to — you know it’s a school zone, we have the school signs up, everybody knows there’s a school there — if you’re in a special zone, you can set a special speed limit.” Olson also cited the speed trap law, California Vehicle Code 40802, which is the law that governs how jurisdictions can set speed limits on streets classified as local roads. To forego the engineering and traffic survey requirement, he said, adding minor collector and major collector roads to the language in the state vehicle code would be necessary. “That’s more of an arbitrary way of setting rules and regulations,” he said. “As opposed to a standard engineering and traffic survey, which is going to have that objective standard of how are most folks using the road.” District 5 Supervisor Dean Wilson, however, pointed out that an engineering and speed study often doesn’t provide the full picture. A 50 mph speed limit is justifiable on a “good section” of Fred Haight Drive, but the problems are occurring on a small segment of the road, he said. Olson said that those conducting the speed studies can make determinations for dividing the road into different sections. When trying to determine whether she and her colleagues should ask for preliminary speed data or direct staff to conduct an official engineering and speed study, District 2 Supervisor Valerie Starkey mentioned a comment Tamera Leighton had made earlier in the meeting. Following a Caltrans presentation on upcoming projects, including a roundabout on U.S. 199 at Elk Valley Cross Road and the STAA 199/197 projects, Leighton, executive director of the Del Norte Local Transportation Commission, said those setting transportation policy rely on research, data and evidence. The spot where Elk Valley Cross Road intersects with U.S. 199 has a collision rate that’s 811% greater than the statewide average for similar intersections, Leighton said. “We don’t make safety decisions based on independent opinions,” she said. “It’s more important that we rely on research, data and evidence and all of the things that Caltrans is talking about today.” Starkey asked if a collection of the preliminary speed data for Fred Haight Drive would issue the statistics needed to change the speed limit. Howard, however, said he’s heard complaints from his constituents about speeds through Smith River since he was elected in 2014. “Opinion feeds the start of the study,” he said. “The residents have told us that speeds are way too high. The preliminary information is going to say what we already know from the residents, that speeds are too high. It’s time to take action.”