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Remember no one is asking for an end to traffic calming, just TC reform. You be the judge.
by Jen Chaney Staff Writer July
8, 1998
Gazette.net
Montgomery Maryland
Members of an anti-speed hump organization have suggested that the traffic control devices may have hindered rescue workers' abilities to respond to a recent fatal fire in Gaithersburg.
Russell Wright, a member of the executive committee for Save Our Streets, said in an interview last week that speed humps may have delayed firefighters by several seconds as they tried to reach the house fire on Grantchester Place that killed two young boys.
While Wright did not suggest the delay caused the fatalities, he said more people need to be aware of the impact speed humps can have in emergency situations.
"A few seconds would matter," said the North Bethesda resident. The organization is attempting to put a referendum on the November ballot to restrict the use of speed humps in Montgomery County.
Fire officials agree a few seconds do matter in most emergency situations, but none could say for certain the absence of speed humps would have changed the outcome of the June 14 fire.
"Yes, it's probably true that there were a few seconds involved but whether that's relative to the outcome of the incident, I would hesitate to speculate," said Warren Stevens, a district chief for Montgomery County Fire and Rescue who oversees the Gaithersburg, Laytonsville, Darnestown and Damascus areas.
The Grantchester Place fire broke out around 5 a.m. at the home of Michael and Catherine Chapman, and was started by a candle that was left burning during a power outage. The Chapmans were unable to call 911 because the power failure disabled their cordless phone. The outage also prevented their smoke detectors from sounding.
Five boys were sleeping in the basement where the fire started. Stephon Collins, 13, died almost immediately and Samuel Juster, 12, died two days later.
Most of the fire trucks, which came from Laytonsville, Gaithersburg, Rockville and Kensington, traveled along Victory Farm Drive, which has three speed humps, to reach the house. Saybrooke Oaks Boulevard, the other main access road into the Saybrooke community, has five humps.
Given the complications surrounding the fire, however, some say pointing the finger at those humps is impossible.
"There are too many factors involved," said Scott Gutschick, an administrative specialist with the county's fire and rescue commission. "You would probably have to sit down and make a separate study of an incident."
A fire and rescue commission study released last year showed that a large ladder truck traveling at 20 miles per hour takes about 7.3 seconds to cross one hump.
An ambulance traveling at the same speed needed 3.8 seconds to get over a single hump, the study said. The study was done on Rock Run Drive, a residential street in Potomac, which has rounded speed humps.
"If [vehicles] are going 10, 15, or 20 miles per hour faster, the delays will be even greater," Gutschick said.
"Some people might say that's not very much, but say you're responding to an address and you have to cross over eight, ten or 12 speed humps," he added. "Those seconds start to add up."
While the commission is not against speed humps, officials want people to be more aware of the negatives before petitioning to have them installed, Gutschick said.
The referendum proposed by Save Our Streets would eliminate humps altogether unless a majority of people vote at a public hearing to keep them on their streets.
The fire and rescue commission is compiling a list of primary emergency response routes where only flat-top speed humps, which are not as severe as the round-top versions, will be permitted. The County Council will have to approve that list.
The city of Gaithersburg, where the humps in Saybrooke are located, makes its own decisions concerning speed humps.
In the past three years, the City Council and the Gaithersburg Department of Public Works has installed humps on Saybrooke Oaks, Victory Farm, Suffield Drive, Sioux Lane, E. Deer Park Road and Bickerstaff Way.
"I think they're very effective," said Ollie Mumpower, assistant director of public works. "What you have to do is place them at the right locations."
When a neighborhood requests speed humps, public works conducts a speed study to determine how quickly people drive in the area. If the average is more than 10 miles over the speed limit, the department typically recommends a traffic calming device of some type, which the mayor and City Council have to approve.
Mayor W. Edward Bohrer, Jr. said he is not in favor of putting humps on every street, but agreed that they do serve a purpose.
"I have talked to people who live on streets who have them and they have thanked me," he said.
But Wright still wonders whether more lives are saved by lowering speeds or allowing emergency vehicles to get places more easily.
"Which is more likely: a child being hit by a car on a speedy street or someone's life being lost or at risk because of a delayed ambulance or fire truck?"