After a long battle with the City of Virginia Beach over pedestrian and cyclist fatalities, safety advocates have finally convinced the city to lower the speed limit on Shore Drive from 45 to 35 MPH, along a four mile stretch between N. Great Neck Rd and Kendall St. The Hampton Roads Cyclist has the story, with links to newspaper coverage, and a chart of motor vehicle fatality rates with respect to speed. Please also see the Virginian-Pilot editorial, Slow Down on Shore Drive.
Congratulations to VBF board members Bruce Drees and Bill Hart, and all the other bike-ped advocates who worked long and hard to make this happen.
Under optimal circumstances, with no signals or traffic, the difference between 35 and 45 MPH on a four mile stretch of road corresponds to just 1.6 minutes.
The Virginia Bicycling Federation created the Daniel Wayne Hersh Memorial Fund for safety education, in memory of a cyclist who was killed on Shore Drive.
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Thanks to everyone who helped it happen.
Just to let everyone know exactly what the speed limit change will do in terms of time spent driving. I created a map that details the difference between 35mph and 45mph
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=106621776302968168764.0004882688eaffd95e720&ll=36.908039,-76.101952&spn=0.047012,0.077162&z=14
This is more for the naysayers and people that have an aversion to the change. It really isn’t hurting anyone in the long run. I think this was a long overdue change and I also support the addition of crosswalks and other plans to keep pedestrians and cyclists safer.