Speed humps are beginning to face resistance

Speed humps are beginning to face resistance from motorists, The Christian Science Monitor reports. The flat-topped traffic-calming devices, less abrupt than speed bumps, generally succeed in forcing drivers to slow down – at least briefly. Four speed humps recently installed in a quarter-mile stretch of a street in Alexandria, Virginia, reduced average speeds by nearly 25 miles an hour and cut traffic by as much as seven percent. But in Montgomery County, Maryland, the widespread mid-1990s installation of speed humps (also known as speed tables) has been met by a public backlash, resulting in a tightening of eligibility for traffic-calming devices. Alexandria now installs speed humps only when 65 percent of the affected residents request them. To qualify, a residential street must carry at least 300 vehicles an hour, and it has to be shown that more than 15 percent of drivers are exceeding the posted speed by 5 mph or more. Fire Chief Thomas Hawkins claims the humps put additional wear and tear on emergency vehicles. He is pushing for the city to consider an alternative: “speed cushions,” which The Monitor says “provide grooves wide enough for fire trucks to pass through unimpeded.”