LATHROP – Lathrop Vice Mayor Christopher Mateo isn’t thrilled with the concept of traffic flying down Lathrop Road at 50 miles per hour.

Last week he voiced his opinion further on an informational item that might lead to speed limit reductions on three Lathrop streets – Lathrop Road, Manthey Road and O Street.

Because of the intricacy of the matter – requiring ordinances to be drafted before the reduced speed could be formally introduced and the requirement that the limits fall within the range of Lathrop’s last traffic study in order to be enforceable by radar – city staff will bring the matter back on Monday, June 6 for further discussion and possible action.

“It’s just ridiculous to me to have a speed limit inside of the city limits that is at 50 miles an hour,” Mateo said. “I’ve seen county roads where the speed limit was only 45, and here we have limits set at 50. That’s just incomprehensible to me.”

According to deputy city manager and public works director Steve Salvatore, the council does have the option to change the speed limit on a given street to whatever they desire. If they do that, however, enforcement by Lathrop Police Services might not be possible because in order to use radar the speed limit has to be set on the 85th percentile of the most recent traffic study – which Lathrop completed three years ago.

“If the speed limit is not enforceable by police services then it makes it really difficult to enforce speeding,” Salvatore said. “If you issue a speeding ticket in an area that doesn’t coincide with the speed limit then that ticket ends up getting thrown out.”

City staff’s initial proposal was to drop the speed limit on Lathrop Road from Harlan Road to Cambridge to 45 miles per hour, from Cambridge Drive to 7th Street to 35 miles per hour and back up to 45 miles per hour from 7th Street all to the way to the eastern city limits.

The proposal also suggests dropping Manthey Road from Mossdale to Towne Centre Drive from 50 miles per hour down to 40 miles per hour, and O Street from Harlan Road to 5th Street from 30 miles per hour down to 25 miles per hour.

Councilman Sonny Dhaliwal said he isn’t in favor of approving something where the speed decreases and increases again on the same street – creating a de facto speed trap for motorists.

Mayor Joseph “Chaka” Santos, however, said in his closing comments on the issue that he wouldn’t mind seeing the limit dropped to 25 miles per hour all throughout the city – noting that it’s plenty fast to get around and it helps protect children and other pedestrians who are walking around the community.

Once the council officially decides what they’re going to do in terms of the issue, city staff can bring ordinances so that they can officially go into effect.