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Remember no one is asking for an end to traffic calming, just TC reform. You be the judge.
From
The
Seattle Times
Paramedics' need for speed hits bumps in road
MISSION VIEJO, Calif. - The Coto de Caza subdivision offers spectacular vistas - rolling hills, orange groves, horse trails, a 36-hole golf course, pastel-colored mansions - for those driving slowly enough to appreciate them.
But enough motorists have been racing along the winding, two-lane roads to prompt homeowner associations in this gated enclave to install speed bumps.
The bumps, unfortunately, also slow down firefighters and paramedics, who are demanding that the traffic-control devices be removed because they drastically reduce response time to emergency calls.
The dispute is being played out around the country, with rescue workers at odds with residents who say the speeding autos threaten their peaceful environment and safety. From Montgomery County, Md., to Boulder, Colo., to Portland, Ore., residents are debating the pros and cons of speed bumps.
Advocates say speed bumps reduce the prospect of more deaths and injuries from auto accidents. The downside, say opponents, is that speed bumps increase the prospect of deaths and suffering due to delayed rescues.
"There's a belief in the community that speed bumps are the only things standing between us and the Daytona 500 on our streets," said John Zarian, president of the largest homeowners group in Coto de Caza.
"People run stop signs and speed even with the speed bumps," he said, adding that a fatal accident occurred in the community earlier this year. "If we take the speed bumps out, we will be creating a greater safety problem."
Harm to vehicles, responses
Originally developed in Europe, speed bumps have become the preferred traffic-control method in a growing number of urban and suburban communities.
Speed bumps are relatively easy to install and are less expensive than other so-called traffic-calming devices such as cul-de-sacs, barriers and traffic circles. The bumps, which protrude about three to six inches above the road surface, are designed to jolt vehicles traveling faster than 20 mph.
"The dilemma in residential areas is that there is not enough traffic to justify a police officer being there for a long period of time to enforce the speed law. Speed bumps are a good alternative when police enforcement is not always available," said Alex Weiss, executive associate director of Northwestern University's Traffic Institute.
But, he added, "When you change one part of the traffic system, it often has an unexpected outcome on another part."
In recent years, complaints have arisen that speed bumps can pose serious problems for rescue vehicles, damaging bulky fire engines and delicate medical equipment on ambulances if drivers don't slow down enough.
If they do slow down, studies show, response time can be increased up to nine seconds per bump. It is not uncommon for a typical motorist in Coto de Caza to drive over a dozen bumps.
"We looked into the issue and conducted time studies which showed that with speed bumps we would not meet our response goal of five minutes or less," said Capt. Scott Brown of the Orange County Fire Authority, which has threatened to take legal action against the homeowners group in Coto de Caza.
"Speed bumps put us in the six-minute or more range, which is a tremendous amount of time when you're dealing with a heart-attack victim or a fire," Brown added.
Hated elsewhere too
The strong feelings toward the bumps perhaps are best exemplified in Montgomery County, Md., where an anti-speed-bump group called Save Our Streets and a group supporting the devices called StreetSafe have been wrangling for the past year.
From 1994 to 1997, 217 people died in car crashes in the suburban county, northwest of Washington, D.C. Responding to residents' demands to quell speeding, county officials have installed more than 1,000 speed bumps on 300 residential streets.
But other residents have complained that the bumps are a nuisance and cause injuries to people with bad backs. Save Our Streets pressed the county fire commission to conduct a study, which concluded that speed bumps increase response time. Firefighters recently said speed bumps could have been a factor last spring in their response to a fire that killed two teenagers.
The group collected 10,000 signatures in an attempt to get a ban on speed bumps placed on a county-wide referendum. StreetSafe fought the referendum drive, and a judge in September ruled the issue is too frivolous to place on the ballot.
"People here either love speed humps or hate them; there is no in between," said Douglas Duncan, Montgomery County executive.
"I went to a retirement party for federal workers," Duncan added. "One guy got up and ripped me for supporting speed humps. A woman ripped me for not putting speed humps in fast enough. It was nasty."
After neighborhood groups and rescue agencies spent two years arguing over traffic safety, city officials in Portland worked out a compromise last year by banning speed bumps on specially designated routes for emergency vehicles, but allowing them to be used elsewhere.
"The fire bureau showed a video of how a house could become consumed by fire if there is a delay," said Ellis McCoy, a traffic-control manager for the city. "It was convincing in showing how a delay could endanger the home."
Other tools
The City Council in Boulder also has banned speed bumps on emergency routes, pending the outcome of a traffic study next year. A major focus of the study is on whether alternative speed-control devices would work better.
"We're looking at photo radar that would take a picture of the license plate of a vehicle that is speeding and send the driver a ticket, and speed-sensitive signals that would turn a red light green if someone is driving the speed limit," said Norene Walsh, a transportation planner in the Boulder transportation office.
"Maybe we can find another tool that can slow traffic and not hamper response time," she said.