Los Altos Hills, CA residents may have spotted Betty Kerns wielding a radar gun last month.

Kerns and her husband, Bill, weren’t working for the town, however, when they parked their car, calibrated their radar gun and measured the speed of motorists on two occasions in March. They were challenging speed-control practices in their town.

The Kernses’ goal: prove that the posted 25 mph speed limit on Moody and El Monte roads doesn’t reflect the average speed of traffic – or an appropriate speed – for the main roads through Los Altos Hills.

“Everybody is going over 25,” Kerns said of the two sections they patrolled along El Monte and Moody. The Kernses, who have both received speeding tickets on El Monte, argue that the town should not be targeting those who are safely driving more than 25 mph on that road or Moody. They base their claims in part on the state’s anti-speed-trap law, known as the 85th percentile speed rule. To be enforced with radar, speed limits should be set within 5 mph of the observed critical speed of 85 percent of drivers.

After conducting their own speed survey, the Kernses observed approximately 85 percent of the cars were driving at least 43 mph westbound on El Monte, between Interstate 280 and Moody.
In the straightaway, El Monte can look like an arterial, but as it climbs into the Hills and its name changes to Moody, it begins to wind. Cars share the circuitous two-lane road on Moody with bicycle, pedestrian and horse traffic.

Third-party contractor Traffic Data Service surveyed the speed limits on town roads by dividing the roads into 34 sections. The survey, completed in March 2007, indicated that Los Altos Hills speeds are in conformity with state law. Town engineer Richard Chiu said he has no reason to believe the survey is invalid.

But Betty believes the town’s survey failed to measure sufficiently this stretch and hopes to question the survey’s validity when her husband goes to court May 14 for driving 40 mph last November.

Kerns, caught speeding last year, had her ticket dismissed when the citing sheriff’s deputy didn’t appear in court.

To gather speed statistics, the Kernses purchased a reconditioned and calibrated police radar gun to measure the speed of hundreds of cars passing along El Monte and Moody.

“This isn’t the (town’s) highest priority, with issues like Westwind Barn and Bullis … but it affects the lives of all normal citizens,” Kerns said.

Because the characteristics of the town roads change drastically within short distances, Kerns doesn’t think the sectioned surveys are representative of the road as a whole.

But Chiu said that if the surveyed distances were too short, it would be confusing for drivers if the posted speed kept changing.

“The number of sections is determined so we can get a representative (reading) for that location,” Chiu said.

The town is working to present current information in a user-friendly, readable format with a summary of the 85th percentile and posted speed that officers can present in court. Chiu said he was unsure when the reformatting will be complete.