Our city council last night approved the installation of speed humps on our street, which is awesome. The vote was 7-0.
“But Mark,” you say, “don’t you mean ‘speed bumps?'” No. I admit to a certain level of ignorance on the various modes of traffic calming before all this stuff started. For the record, a speed bump is a narrow, high impediment that requires a driver to slow to somewhere around 5 mph to avoid a major jolt. We’ve all experienced those. They’re typically three-to-five inches high and only about a foot from edge to edge.
A speed hump is 12 feet from edge to edge and about three inches high at its highest point, which means you can approach it at a higher rate a speed. They’re actually pretty cool. If you hit one at, say, 25 mph, you barely notice it. But hit it at 30, and you start to really feel the bump. The effect gets more noticeable as your speed increases.
We’re hoping the city installs the humps before this school year begins, which is when the traffic really tends to get out of hand in our neighborhood. I’ll post some pictures as soon as they’re in.