Assembly BillChaptered/SignedVehicle
AB 1014: Traffic safety: speed limits.
What AB 1014 does, verified December 7, 2025
This bill amends existing traffic safety laws to allow the Department of Transportation to set and adjust speed limits on highways not designated as freeways. The department can lower or retain the speed limit in certain circumstances, such as finding the speed limit to be higher than reasonable or safe. Local authorities can also set speed limits, and the department can set a prima facie speed limit of 25 or 20 miles per hour on non-freeway highways. Additionally, peace officers are required to issue warning citations for speed limit violations for the first 30 days that a lower speed limit is in effect.
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Last action: Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 287, Statutes of 2025. (2025-09-03)Alert me
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| Oct. 03, 2025 | Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 287, Statutes of 2025. |
| Oct. 03, 2025 | Approved by the Governor. |
| Sep. 09, 2025 | Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m. |
| Sep. 03, 2025 | Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 37. Noes 1. Page 2445.). |
| Sep. 03, 2025 | In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. |
Latest bill textChaptered version, October 3, 2025 · 2,010 words
Assembly Bill No. 1014
CHAPTER 287
An act to amend Sections 22358.6, 22358.7, 22358.8, and 22358.9 of the Vehicle Code, relating to vehicles.
[ Approved by Governor October 03, 2025. Filed with Secretary of State October 03, 2025. ]
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1014, Rogers. Traffic safety: speed limits.
Existing law establishes various default speed limits for vehicles upon highways, as specified. Existing law requires the Department of Transportation, by regulation, to require speed limits to be rounded up or down to the nearest 5 miles per hour of the 85th percentile of free-flowing traffic. Existing law authorizes a local authority to additionally lower the speed limit in specified circumstances, or retain the currently adopted speed limit in certain circumstances.
This bill would authorize the department to additionally lower or retain the speed limit in those specified circumstances.
Existing law authorizes a local authority, if it finds the speed limit derived from the 85th percentile to be higher than reasonable or safe, to reduce the speed limit an additional 5 miles per hour for specified reasons, including, but not limited to, that the portion of highway is designated as a safety corridor, as defined by the department. Existing law also authorizes a local authority to retain or restore the immediately prior adopted speed limit under specified circumstances.
This bill would similarly authorize the department to set, on a highway that is not a freeway, a speed limit, or retain or restore the immediately prior adopted speed limit under those specified circumstances.
Under certain circumstances, existing law authorizes a local authority to set, by ordinance, a 25- or 20-mile-per-hour facie speed limit on specified highways.
This bill would similarly authorize the department to set, by regulation, for a highway that is not a freeway, a 25- or 20-mile-per-hour prima facie speed limit.
Existing law requires a local authority to issue only warning citations for specified speed limit violations for the first 30 days that a lower speed limit is in effect.
This bill would instead impose this requirement on any peace officer.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(a) Speed is a major factor in traffic collisions that result in pedestrian fatalities or injuries along state highways that intersect state and national recreation areas, including, but not limited to, Route 199 in the County of Del Norte, which passes through portions of the Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, the Six Rivers National Forest, the Smith River National Recreation Area, and recreationally designated segments of the wild and scenic Smith River around the communities of Gasquet and Hiouchi.
(b) While local governments, contractors, and agencies are doing everything in their power to keep pedestrians safe, highways that intersect state and national recreation areas continue to be hazardous areas where pedestrians are at high risk of injury or death due to fast-moving vehicles and the added volume of cars and pedestrian traffic from bicyclists, fishermen, hikers, kayakers, and rafters. The unique conditions, in terms of visitor-serving and recreational activities, are not properly accounted for in current law, leading to speed limits in excess of what these communities generally consider to be safe.
(c) Traffic speed enforcement is critical to efforts in California to reduce factors that contribute to traffic collisions resulting in fatalities or injuries.
(d) In order to limit the risk of fatality or injury for pedestrians along state highways that intersect state and national recreation areas, state and local agencies may consider the safety of vulnerable pedestrian groups when they employ methods to reduce speeding, including the lowering of speed limits.
(e) Current law does not allow the Department of Transportation to lower or maintain speed limits on state highways it controls, and also limits the consideration of local input pertaining to pedestrian traffic along highways when determining speed limits, which is especially important to rural areas.
(f) California should do everything possible to protect the safety and well-being of vulnerable pedestrian groups.
(g) It is the intent of the Legislature to provide greater flexibility to the Department of Transportation to consider and incorporate local input in setting speed limits along state highways that intersect state and national recreation areas.
(h) Considering the safety of vulnerable pedestrian groups is a cost-effective strategy to improve the safety and health of the community, while maintaining important visitor-serving and recreational opportunities.
(i) This bill will help save lives, reduce injuries, and provide a safer environment for our vulnerable pedestrian groups.
SEC. 2.
Section 22358.6 of the Vehicle Code is amended to read:22358.6.
(a) The Department of Transportation shall, in the next scheduled revision, revise and thereafter maintain the California Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices to require the Department of Transportation or a local authority to round speed limits to the nearest five miles per hour of the 85th percentile of the free-flowing traffic.(b) In cases in which the speed limit needs to be rounded down to the nearest five miles per hour increment of the 85th-percentile speed, the Department of Transportation or a local authority may lower the speed limit by five miles per hour from the nearest five-mile-per-hour increment of the 85th-percentile speed, in compliance with Sections 627 and 22358.5 and the California Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, as it read on March 30, 2021, if the reasons for the lower speed limit are documented in an engineering and traffic survey. The Department of Transportation or a local authority may also take into consideration Sections 22353, 22353.2, 22353.3, 22353.4, and 22353.5, if applicable.
(c) In cases in which the speed limit needs to be rounded up to the nearest five-mile-per-hour increment of the 85th-percentile speed, the Department of Transportation or a local authority may decide to instead round down the speed limit to the lower five-mile-per-hour increment. If the speed limit is rounded down pursuant to this subdivision, the speed limit shall not be reduced any further pursuant to subdivision (b).
(d) In addition to subdivisions (b) and (c), the Department of Transportation or a local authority may additionally lower the speed limit as provided in Section 22358.7.
(e) The total reduction in the speed limit pursuant to subdivisions (a) to (d), inclusive, shall not exceed 12.4 miles per hour from the 85th-percentile speed.
(f) Notwithstanding subdivisions (a) to (e), inclusive, the Department of Transportation or a local authority may retain the currently adopted speed limit as provided in Section 22358.8 without further reduction, or restore the immediately prior adopted speed limit as provided in Section 22358.8 without further reduction.
SEC. 3.
Section 22358.7 of the Vehicle Code is amended to read:22358.7.
(a) If the Department of Transportation or a local authority, after completing an engineering and traffic survey, finds that the speed limit is still more than is reasonable or safe, the Department of Transportation may or the local authority may, by ordinance, determine and declare a prima facie speed limit that has been reduced an additional five miles per hour for either or both of the following reasons:(1) The portion of highway has been designated as a safety corridor. The Department of Transportation or a local authority shall not deem more than one-fifth of their streets as safety corridors.
(2) The portion of highway is adjacent to any land or facility that generates high concentrations of bicyclists or pedestrians, especially those from vulnerable groups such as children, seniors, persons with disabilities, and the unhoused.
(b) (1) As used in this section, “safety corridor” shall be defined by the Department of Transportation in the next revision of the California Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices. In making this determination, the Department of Transportation shall consider highways that have the highest number of serious injuries and fatalities based on collision data that may be derived from, but not limited to, the Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System.
(2) The Department of Transportation shall, in the next revision of the California Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, determine what constitutes land or facilities that generate high concentrations of bicyclists and pedestrians, as used in paragraph (2) of subdivision (a). In making this determination, the Department of Transportation shall consider density, road use type, and bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure present on a section of highway.
(c) A peace officer shall issue only warning citations for violations of exceeding the speed limit by 10 miles per hour or less for the first 30 days that a lower speed limit is in effect as authorized by this section.
SEC. 4.
Section 22358.8 of the Vehicle Code is amended to read:22358.8.
(a) If the Department of Transportation or a local authority, after completing an engineering and traffic survey, finds that the speed limit is still more than is reasonable or safe, the Department of Transportation may or the local authority may, by ordinance, retain the currently adopted speed limit or restore the immediately prior adopted speed limit on a highway that is not a freeway if that speed limit was established with an engineering and traffic survey and if a registered engineer has evaluated the section of highway and determined that no additional general purpose lanes have been added to the roadway since completion of the traffic survey that established that speed limit.(b) This section does not authorize a speed limit to be reduced by any more than five miles per hour from the currently adopted speed limit nor below the immediately prior speed limit.
(c) A peace officer shall issue only warning citations for violations of exceeding the speed limit by 10 miles per hour or less for the first 30 days that a lower speed limit is in effect as authorized by this section.
SEC. 5.
Section 22358.9 of the Vehicle Code is amended to read:22358.9.
(a) (1) Notwithstanding any other law, the Department of Transportation may or a local authority may, by ordinance, determine and declare a 25- or 20-mile-per-hour prima facie speed limit on a highway that is not a freeway and that is contiguous to a business activity district when posted with a sign that indicates a speed limit of 25 or 20 miles per hour.(2) The prima facie limits established under paragraph (1) apply only to highways that meet all of the following conditions:
(A) A maximum of four traffic lanes.
(B) A maximum posted 30-mile-per-hour prima facie speed limit immediately prior to and after the business activity district, if establishing a 25-mile-per-hour speed limit.
(C) A maximum posted 25-mile-per-hour prima facie speed limit immediately prior to and after the business activity district, if establishing a 20-mile-per-hour speed limit.
(b) As used in this section, a “business activity district” is that portion of a highway and the property contiguous thereto that includes central or neighborhood downtowns, urban villages, or zoning designations that prioritize commercial land uses at the downtown or neighborhood scale and meets at least three of the following requirements in paragraphs (1) to (4), inclusive:
(1) No less than 50 percent of the contiguous property fronting the highway consists of retail or dining commercial uses, including outdoor dining, that open directly onto sidewalks adjacent to the highway.
(2) Parking, including parallel, diagonal, or perpendicular spaces located alongside the highway.
(3) Traffic control signals or stop signs regulating traffic flow on the highway, located at intervals of no more than 600 feet.
(4) Marked crosswalks not controlled by a traffic control device.
(c) The Department of Transportation or a local authority shall not declare a prima facie speed limit under this section on a portion of a highway where the Department of Transportation or the local authority has already lowered the speed limit as permitted under Section 22358.7, has retained the currently adopted speed limit under Section 22358.8, or has restored the immediately prior adopted speed limit under Section 22358.8.
(d) A peace officer shall issue only warning citations for violations of exceeding the speed limit by 10 miles per hour or less for the first 30 days that a lower speed limit is in effect as authorized by this section.
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