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Do residential speed bumps in Margate save lives or impair emergency services?
• Speed bumps in Oriole Homes Golf & Tennis on hold
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Saturday,
March 27, 2010
President of Oriole Golf & Tennis Phase 1 Condominium Association, Richard Irwin, came before Margate City Commissioners last week requesting speed bumps be installed on select streets in his community. He said his Condominium Association will pay for the speed bumps and is seeking commission approval as soon as possible to slow speeding cars that threaten the well being of community seniors and children alike.
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Police reported on an initial speeding assessment of Irwin’s community at a recent Margate city commission meeting, concluding that an estimated 80 percent of all vehicles tracked over a 24-hour period were traveling at speeds of 30 mph or less down roads with a posted speed limit of 25 mph.
Pending further study of the unique needs of his community, city commissioners tabled Irwin’s request to determine if Oriole Golf & Tennis qualifies for a traffic calming device based on guidelines established in the city’s traffic management manual—as other communities across Margate seemingly have.
Margate utilizes both speed bumps and humps in an attempt to calm traffic in select residential neighborhoods across the city. Speed bumps, say long-time Margate residents in one neighborhood, have reduced the number of speeders on their street.
One East River Drive mom told MargateNews.net that fewer motorists speed down her street since speed bumps were installed, but that the traffic calming devices haven’t alleviated the speeding problem altogether.
Another East River Drive resident said that speed bumps have noticeably diverted reckless drivers back to State Road 7, resulting in a positive impact on the safety of the neighborhood.
The difference between speed bumps and speed humps
A speed bump is generally designed as a rounded, raised pavement structure usually from two to six inches high and one to three feet “long” (from the front of the bump to the back traveling in the direction of the motorist), according to Iowa State University’s “A Study on Speed Humps”. Their design generally dictates comfortable crossing speeds of five miles per hour or less, making speed bumps appropriate for use, say experts, only where vehicle speeds are typically at their lowest, such as in parking lots and on private roads.
Speed humps, on the other hand, are typically designed not to exceed four inches in height and are usually from 10 to 12 feet long in the direction of traveling motorists. Speed humps are typically applied to residential streets where posted speed limits do not exceed 25 miles per hour, according to researcher James Fazzalaro, principal analyst for Connecticut’s Office of Legislative Research.
Studies conducted by the Florida Department of Transportation show that speed humps are proven more effective, quieter and safer than conventional speed bumps in residential neighborhoods, adding in one report that speed bumps are not recommended for residential use.
In terms of liability, speed humps and bumps have been known to cause property damage or personal injury when installed improperly, report researchers at Iowa State.
More than once, California courts have held public agencies liable for damage and/or injury resulting from both speed humps and speed bumps in California cities.
What are Florida cities other than Margate doing?
Hollywood, a city that budgeted $100,000 for speed humps in 2009, charges taxpayers about $3,800 hump, and requires signatures from no less than 70 percent of residents living on a street before speed hump installation is approved by commissioners.
Fort Lauderdale neighborhoods requesting speed humps must have 500 to 3,000 vehicles per day traveling an average speed of more than 10 mph over the posted speed limit to qualify for the installation of speed humps.
Citizens Against Road Restrictions, a Lutz, Florida coalition formed to fight the installation of traffic calming solutions without a citywide vote, claims that speed humps impact everyone in the city, not just the handful people who lobby for their approval.
In Florida cities, Titusville and Panama City, public officials warn that, although residents may be entitled to speed humps in their communities upon meeting certain criteria, a laundry list of disadvantages is associated with the traffic calming devices, including delays for police and fire vehicles of 3 to 5 seconds per hump, and up to 10 seconds per hump for ambulances with patients, as indicated by policies posted on the cities’ municipal websites.
Although critics of traffic calming ‘lumps’ in Margate suggest that the lumps may deter the effective delivery of emergency services in the city, Margate Police and Fire heads, as well as some in the rank and file, say no evidence exists in the city to support such claims.
Pembroke Pines Police Chief, Vito Splendorio, asked homeowners associations in his city in April 2000 to voluntarily remove speed humps and bumps from their communities because of their adverse effects on fire-rescue response times, adding that a patient strapped to a stretcher is still "jolted" even if traveling only 2 mph over one of the humps, Sun-sentinel reports.
In terms of the benefit to public safety, one Margate resident posed this question regarding speed humps in his Margate neighborhood:
“Do speeding cars kill children, or do children running out in front of speeding cars kill children?”
Reader Opinion
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