Watch where you go
Their latest iteration, as dictated by the Highways (Road humps) Regulations 1999 ,dictates that all speed bumps must be at least 900mm in length and with a height between 25mm and 100mm at its tallest point.
No vertical face or material forming the speed hump may exceed 6mm and the gradient of a speed bump must be no more than 1:10.
These must always be placed at a right angle to an imaginary line which runs down the centre of a road and can only be installed on roads where the speed limit is lower than 30mph.
They cannot be fitted within 30 meters of a Zebra, Pelican and Puffin Pedestrian Crossings, or within 20 meters of a railway track at a crossing if the speed limit is greater than 20mph.
There are also rules stopping them being placed within 25 metres of a bridge or tunnel crossing the highway.
Speed limits over 20mph, speed bumps cannot be used where there is no street lighting to ensure they can be clearly visible
In for the count
Council data shared with car maker Citroen in 2019 suggested there are more than 42,000 individual speed bumps on more than 14,000 roads in Britain. These stretch across an estimated 2,000 miles of streets.
They are most densely used in the capital, London, with Newham Council topping out with speed bumps on all its 124 miles of roads. Southwark and Hackney follow, with 148 miles (71% of all routes) and 104 miles (69%) respectively.
Outside of London, Norwich City Council topped the league table (17% of its roads), Portsmouth City Council (13%) and Bury Metropolitan Borough Council (12%).
People power
Road safety experts generally believe they have succeeded in calming. traffic and reducing casualties. However, ambulance drivers and the fire brigade have often hit out at them, blaming them for longer attendance times, therefore increasing risks to other casualties.
Meanwhile, poorly installed bumps have also been blamed for speeding up the deterioration of road surfaces and an increase in vehicle emissions due to constant braking and accelerating.
Speaking to This Is Money in 2019, Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said other forms of traffic calming – such as chicanes – should be considered ahead of speed bumps.
“This proliferation of speed humps, speed cushions, speed ramp, speed tables, sleeping policemen – call them what you will – are put in place with the best of intentions.
“However, they risk giving drivers, bikers and cyclists extremely uncomfortable rides especially if they fall into disrepair.
“Road engineering offers other traffic calming solutions and these should be given equal consideration when the planners are at the drawing board.”
Waking up to costs
Confused.com in 2018 found that 22% of motorists had experienced some form of car damage caused by the humps in the road.
It has led to many compensation claims against local councils. However, a speed hump has to be found to exceed legal heights.
When it comes to the hot toping of emissions, measures that require drivers to slow down and speed up frequently ultimately increase the emissions produced by vehicles. Therefore, more pollution.
In 2017, then Environment Secretary Michael Gove suggested councils should consider removing them entirely to ‘optimise traffic flow’ to bring down dangerous levels of nitrogen dioxide.
He said that ‘improving road layouts and junctions to optimise traffic flow, for example by considering removal of road humps’ should be considered ahead of the introduction of clean air zones in Britain and a ban on sales of new petrol and diesel cars.
Transport Research Laboratory technical manager, Tim Barlow, told Transport Network in 2017 that traffic calming measures ‘can cause an increase in harmful tail pipe emissions and CO2’, with speed humps ‘tending to have the largest increases’.
However, he said their primary job is to reduce speed to save lives in residential areas, making it a difficult balancing act of risks.
For this reason, he believes speed humps and bumps do not significantly contribute to the total amount of harmful vehicle pollutants that are created.
In a joint letter issued to Mr Gove from the Campaign for Better Transport, Living Streets and Cycling UK said: ‘Local authorities should be able to demonstrate that any proposed alternative to speed humps is at least as effective in controlling speeds, preventing injuries and fatalities and improving public health for people of all ages and abilities, including children and other non-drivers.’
