After a recently completed speed survey by the traffic engineering department, 13 Oakdale streets will have their speed limits increased by 5 to 10 miles per hour.

A street survey is required by the California Vehicle Code for a city to be able to have its police use radar for speed enforcement.

A survey, once required to be completed every two years, is now done every three to seven years depending on the type of street and its factors. Data from the speeds traveled on the street is gathered and taken into account. The speed of 85 percent of the drivers is used for the determination of that street’s speed limit.

Other factors such as previous collisions, a school zone, playgrounds, pedestrian and bicycle traffic, and the physical condition of the street are taken into consideration for determining the “prima facie speed limit” or safe speed for the roadway.

After a presentation of the speed survey and new suggested speed limits by Deputy Public Works Director David Myers at the Feb. 7 Oakdale City Council meeting, Councilman Michael Brennan said he felt the survey was self defeating. Brennan explained that the survey was needed to use radar to cite violators and keep speeds down by enforcement, yet because of the survey, some speeds would be now rising in Oakdale.

Brennan said he believed radar enforcement was the most effective tool in lowering drivers’ speeds because pacing, the alternative, was useless because of the presence of a moving patrol car automatically has drivers lower their speeds.

The speed survey does not affect speed limits at any school zone, which remain at 25 miles per hour.

Streets rising from 25 MPH to 30 MPH are:

First Avenue, from F Street to North Street; Poplar Street, from Lee Avenue to First Avenue; Greger Street, Crane Road to South Yosemite Avenue; Pontiac Street, Crane Road to Stanislaus Avenue; Willowood Drive, Maiden Lane to Calumet Way; and E Street, First Avenue to Johnson Avenue.

Streets rising from 25 MPH to 35 MPH are: Orsi Road, Sierra Road to Lando Drive; G Street, Wood Avenue to Orsi Road; J Street, First Avenue to Orsi Road.

According to the Oakdale Police Department’s Traffic Division, accident trends are tracked and enforcement efforts are focused in those areas found to be prone to collisions. Officers enforce traffic laws aimed at reducing the collision and injury rates using vehicles equipped with radar or laser speed determining devices.