West Spain Street Full of Speed Demons? Not So Much.

The Jan. 19 City Council meeting took an unexpected turn when the evening's topics turned from bike paths to public safety on West Spain Street.

One by one residents and business owners of West Spain stood before the council to complain, not only of the proposed bike paths, but of the speeding and increased traffic infractions they noticed on their street.

"It's a concern with people texting and talking on telephones...[West Spain is] just not a safe place," said West Spain resident David Brown. 

The words struck Sonoma Police Department Chief Bret Sackett, who launched an investigation into whether the street was dealing with dangerous speeding.

For 5 days between Jan. 22 - 26 the Sonoma Police monitored the speeds of all traffic along West Spain street through two recorders placed on telephone polls on Seventh Street West and Third Street West at West Spain Street.  Regular speeders breathe a sigh of relief, the recording devices captured the speeds of all passing cars with no licence plate or auto brand information.

Fewer than one percent of all vehicles measured drove faster than the speed limit at either spot.

On Seventh Street West, a 30 mph zone, the more than 46,000 vehicles surveyed traveled at an average speed of 29 mph. The max recorded speed was a single vehicle traveling at 61 mph, and 6 cars traveled at a speed greater than 50.

Similar rules applied on Third Street West. The average speed of the 24,000 cars surveyed in the 25 mph zone was 27 mph. Less than 1 percent of vehicles traveled at a speed greater than 40. The highest recorded speed was two vehicles, recorded driving at 53 mph late at night, that officers believe to be police cars.

The data shows that, though West Spain Street is heavily traveled, the speed problem is not supported by empiric data, according to Sackett.

The police department will continue to monitor West Spain Street closely and report the data.