HB 4012 was introduced on Jan. 12, 2023, and referred to the House Committee on Transportation, Mobility, and Infrastructure, where it received a hearing on June 6, 2023. A largely identical bill, HB 4014, passed the Michigan House in the last session on March 24, 2021 by a vote of 94-12.
LMB supports the bill, sponsored by Rep. Slagh, which would give local communities more flexibility in setting speed limits “in accordance with traffic engineering practices that provide an objective analysis of the characteristics of the highway” or in response to “a situation with hazards to public safety that are not reflected by the eighty-fifth percentile speed”.
On October 12, the bill was passed by the House by a vote of 100-10 and sent to the Senate. Please take action to ask your state senator to support this bill!
You can use the default message below or customize it to include your own testimony:
I’m writing today in support of HB 4012. As someone who enjoys riding a bike, I appreciate the steps this bill takes to make speed limits safer. It allows officials to take safety hazards into account when setting speed limits. It’s a good step forward to make our roads safer for people like me who bike and walk. It passed the House by a vote of 100-10, and I’d like you to support it as well.
In 2017, the National Transportation Safety Board published a safety study titled “Reducing Speeding-Related Crashes Involving Passenger Vehicles”. They concluded (in part) that “expert systems such as USLIMITS2 can improve the setting of speed limits by allowing traffic engineers to systematically incorporate crash statistics and other factors in addition to the 85th percentile speed, and to validate their engineering studies” (p. 27) and that “the safe system approach to setting speed limits in urban areas is an improvement over conventional approaches because it considers the vulnerability of all road users” (p. 29.) This bill would allow these national best practices to be adopted in Michigan, and bring us in line with the latest federal safety guidance. It is supported by the Michigan Municipal League, the Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police, the Michigan Townships Association, and the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG) as well as the League of Michigan Bicyclists (LMB).
As a supporter of LMB, I’m proud to be part of their efforts to improve life through bicycling. Making our roads safer for people who bike and walk is an important part of that goal, and HB 4012 is a valuable step toward safety. Thank you for your time and attention, and I hope for your support.
Photo: Mark Boss