Disadvantages
Local authorities have cited disadvantages to speed bumps:
- The city of Modesto in California, U.S. produced a fact sheet which contains the following disadvantages:
- Slow response time of emergency vehicles;
- May divert traffic to parallel residential streets; and
- There is a possibility of increased noise and pollution for residents living immediately adjacent to the speed bumps.
- The English town of Eastleigh states the following as disadvantages:
- Can cause damage to some vehicles;
- Can increase traffic noise, especially when large goods vehicles pass by;
- Signs, street lighting and white lines are all required and may be visually intrusive;
- Can cause discomfort for drivers and passengers; and
- Can cause problems for emergency services and buses.
- Drivers are distracted by the bumps, therefore ignoring other hazards such as children; and
- Humps can impede or slow emergency vehicle access to areas.
Other sources argue that speed bumps:
- Increase pollution as traffic travels in a lower gear using significantly more fuel per mile;
- Are a substitute for active enforcement;
- Increase noise by both traversing over the bumps and by using more engine revs than normal;
- Cause spinal damage or aggravate chronic backache.
In 2003, the chairman of the London Ambulance Service, Sigurd Reinton was reported as claiming that delay due to speed bumps was responsible for up to 500 avoidable deaths from cardiac arrest each year. He later denied the statement.
In Sweden, an evaluation of spinal stress in bus drivers against ISO 2631-5 required on health grounds:
- bus drivers to avoid certain streets until the humps were modified; and
- a reduction of the maximum acceptable speed to 10 km/h on one street for drivers encountering 150 humps in a day.
A potential may exist for liability or at least a law suit when a driver damages his car by going too fast over speed bumps.
Read more about this topic: Speed Bump