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August 15, 2021
By Brian Hews
At their Aug. 3 meeting, the Norwalk City Council, reacting to numerous complaints about speeding cars unanimously voted to are consider speed bumps in certain areas of the city.
Humps are typically three to four inches high, three to six feet in length, split into two to cover 95% of the lane.
The council has been receiving emails and phone calls from several residents requesting the humps.
Councilwoman Margarita Rios questioned the speed humps, saying the city should look at other options in problem areas such as beefed up police activity and working with the CHP.
Councilman Tony Ayala asked how much the humps were, surprisingly they range from $6,000 to $8,000 per hump.
Policy dictates that 65% of the residents would have to approve the humps with criteria dictating where the humps could be placed, the process will require a traffic study.
The road cannot be major thoroughfare for through traffic; daily traffic volume of 3,000 or fewer vehicles; only a two lane road with a speed limit of 25; width of 30 feet or less.
The City Council directed city staff to return with a proposed policy including costs and feedback from the sheriff and fire departments.
A study in Canada looked at the effectiveness of speed humps on reducing pedestrian-motor vehicle collisions (PMVC).
Speed humps were mapped along with police-reported pedestrian collisions from 2000–2011 and the study identified collision counts before and after speed hump installation.
There were 27,827 PMVC, with 1,344 collisions along 409 roadways with speed humps. PMVC incidents decreased after installation of speed humps. The association between speed humps and PMVC rates decreased more for children than adults.
The study concluded tht speed humps are an easily replicated method of traffic calming which have a significant protective effect on PMVC on the roadways where they are installed, particularly for children.
