SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — The San Diego City Council voted unanimously on Monday to lower speed limits across more than 600 miles of streets.
The plan targets safety corridors, business activity districts, school zones, and high-crash neighborhoods.
Spots include North Park, Mission Hills, Normal Heights, and Pacific Beach. Speed limits in those areas could drop by 5 to 10 miles per hour.
"Unfortunately, people oftentimes speed through the alleys, kind of speed through the intersections, and it creates a real danger for pedestrians, especially," said Devon O’Neill, who lives near a crash site.
The vote comes as traffic injuries and deaths have become an increasing concern for San Diego residents. In 2025, 131 people were severely injured in traffic crashes, and 49 were killed.
The city has been working for years toward a goal called Vision Zero, or taking the number of traffic deaths to 0.
"We've seen far too many crashes involving pedestrians and bicyclists in San Diego in the last couple of years, and the neighborhoods have been calling for slower speed limits," said Council member Stephen Whitburn.
"I know there's been a few hit-and-run, kind of pedestrian accidents, accidents in PB lately," said O’Neill.
ABC 10News was there in early February when a 41-year-old man was hit and killed while walking home. And in mid-January, a 6-year-old lost his life on a family bike ride after a car hit him and fled the scene.
School zones across San Diego will be the first to see the lowered speed limits go into effect. Before the plan can be implemented, the city's transportation department needs more than $2 million.
The money would go toward installing new signs and poles displaying the reduced speed limits. A second vote on the plan is scheduled for mid-April.
