by David Saunders

Problem: There’s a rise in pedestrian accidents.

Solution: Install speed humps that force drivers to slow down.

Sounds like an excellent plan. What could possibly go wrong? 

If you drive in and around the City of Richmond, you’ll notice that the new administration has been placing speed humps (what used to be known as speed bumps) all over the city. Most potholes are still there, but Public Works is feverishly constructing tire-busting, suspension-harming, first responder-slowing and general-nuisance asphalt ramps in “high-traffic corridors.”

Instead of doing the obvious thing — enforcing the existing speeding laws — the city (after careful consideration for more than five years) produced its Final Report on the so-called Neighborhood Traffic Management Program (NMTP) in 2022. The report is “the result of an extensive outreach program initiated by the City’s Department of Transportation Services (now in the Department of Public Works) to solicit input from the City’s residents, from the Transportation and Technology Council Standing Committee (now called the Land Use, Housing, and Transportation Council Standing Committee), from the City Planning Commission and from the City Council.” Sounds like hundreds of people were involved in this hodgepodge.

I’d be interested in seeing if the new measures actually help, because speed is a factor in only 8% of pedestrian fatalities according to NHTSA. (The other factors are poor street lighting, distracted driving, and jaywalking; 35% of pedestrians killed or injured are impaired by drugs or alcohol).

If the various NTMP committees did their research, they’d find multiple reports that speed humps simply don’t work as intended…. and usually cause a host of other problems.

Experimental speed humps placed on a street at a school in Portland, Maine, registered an increase in accidents of 35%.

A study conducted by the fire department of Austin, Texas, showed an increase in the travel time of ambulances of up to 100% transporting victims after speed humps were installed.

Cities like Bethesda, Maryland, and other local governments like San Diego County have removed speed bumps after ADA lawsuits, since people with disabilities are adversely affected by them.

The United Kingdom has been quietly removing speed humps since 2001, after a report showed they lead to higher CO2 emissions from cars (up to 50%-60%.)

Caution: There are speed humps ahead.

This column has been republished with permission from the Weekly Report from Madison + Main.