California Default Speed Limits
Default speed limits where no sign is posted: residential, urban, rural, school zones, and interstate maximums.
- Residential default (mph)
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25
- Urban default (mph)
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25
- Rural default (mph)
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55
Source: California Driver's Handbook (2025), Section 8: Safe Driving (Manage Your Speed), p. 67.
- School zone (mph)
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25
Source: California Driver's Handbook (2025), Section 7: Laws and Rules of the Road (Around Children), p. 50.
- Interstate maximum (mph)
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65
Source: California Driver's Handbook (2025), Section 8: Safe Driving (Manage Your Speed), p. 67.
- Turning right on a red light
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Right on red is permitted by default in California after a complete stop, unless a no turn on red sign is posted. A left turn on red from a one-way street onto a one-way street is also permitted after a complete stop. Neither turn is allowed against a red arrow. Vehicle Code section 21453(a) requires a driver facing a steady circular red signal to stop at the marked limit line, or if none, before entering the crosswalk on the near side, or if none, before entering the intersection. Section 21453(b) then allows the turn: except where a sign prohibits it, a driver who has stopped as required may turn right, or turn left from a one-way street onto a one-way street. The driver making that turn must yield to pedestrians lawfully within an adjacent crosswalk and to any vehicle approaching so closely as to be an immediate hazard, and must keep yielding until the turn can be made with reasonable safety. California has no city-wide or statewide prohibition comparable to New York City's. The red arrow is the trap: the handbook is explicit that a red arrow means stop and you may not turn at a red arrow, so you must wait for a green signal or green arrow. Also note the dedicated right-turn lane case in the handbook: if a separate right-turn lane does not merge into another lane you may turn without stopping unless a light or sign posted at the right curb of that lane says otherwise, and you must always yield to pedestrians in the crosswalk.
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