Need your thoughts on speed bumps in front of your house

[mrsd2006]

Trying to see if I'm being unreasonable or not. 

Background: 

I live in a neighorhood with a lot of kids. DH and I don't have kids, only dogs. 

2 main roads in the neighborhood. One already has speed bumps, have been there since we moved here 20 years ago. 

Second main road through neighborhood was approved for 4 speed bumps. This is the road where most of the kids play and ride bikes, scooters etc

Neighbor across the street emailed me about the speed bumps and said one would be in front our houses (this neighbor has 3 kids). I dont really have a relationship with said neighbor, we wave and will text about stuff periodically and we buy GS cookies from her kids every year. 

I asked if we had any say in the matter where they are located. She said yes, send email to a third person but she wants one close to her home to slow people down. 

SO, I am not crazy about the thought of one of these being installed directly in front of my house. I am all for safety of the kids, but I am not crazy about this idea. 

Another concern of mine (and maybe unfounded) is that my house is at the bottom of a hill where the kids frequently ride/scooter down to build up speed- I feel like hitting a speed bump at the bottom could be kind of dangerous. 


What are ML's thoughts on this? DH said he didn't care either way. 

[definitelyO]

in a nutshell - in my experience citizens do not pick the speed hump locations - the city does.

In my neighborhood - someone living on the specific street has to petition the city for speed humps. Then the city does a speed survey (bring out equipment, etc.. to validate if there are actually people speeding.

Then 90+% of the houses on that street have to sign a physical petition saying that yes, they want speed humps. (the last ask on my street failed as not enough houses wanted this)

We do not have a say where they be placed -the city makes that determination based on physics - well - whatever formula they have for hills/grades/roads, etc.... -

[scm1011]

definitelyO, this is my experience as well. We petitioned our city for speed humps last year and it was approved but not installed yet (estimating later this year). We do not get a say in where the speed humps are installed and I honestly don't really care. I just want people to stop using my residential street as a speedy cut through between 2 major roads.

[rhian]

Besides the concern about kids hitting the bump and falling off scooters, why are you against it?

Are there often cars driving fast on the street? If there are, and there are also a lot of kids playing on the block, it seems like it's a good thing to add speed bumps.

I guess I'm confused as to the level of traffic/speeding happening right now because the description of lots of kids playing in the street doesn't seem to align with there being a need for speed bumps. When I picture kids playing in the street often, I think of a street with little car traffic, and the traffic that there is going slowly. When I picture a street that needs speed bumps, I picture one with cars frequently driving too fast on it.

We previously lived on a street where speed bumps were added while we lived there. We didn't get any notice that it was happening (or we missed the notice), but I think it was a good thing. Definitely slowed the traffic down on the street, which we appreciated.

[bex1973]

Sincerely, not snarky at all - why do you care/not want it in front of your house?

[mrsukyankee]

I'm hoping that we get speed bumps on our road and would be perfectly fine if one was installed in front of our house. They can't put them in front of a drive, so it'd be to the side. I'd be happy just to have them at all.

[bex1973]

Until this thread I didn't know speed bumps/humps was ReGiOnAl. I've never heard them called humps before LOL

[TR]

Feb 15, 2024 14:57:07 GMT -5 bex1973 said:

Sincerely, not snarky at all - why do you care/not want it in front of your house?

This. What’s the concern with having one in front of your house? Noise if people go over it too fast and bottom out?

[rhian]

I will say the only (slight) disadvantage of the speed bumps was that it sometimes reduced the street parking available. While sometimes people would park on the bumps (which maintained the number of spots available), sometimes people would avoid doing so, which meant there was maybe a total of 1-2 fewer street spots available on the block. We parked one of our cars on the street full time so it was a slight impact on us, but not really a big deal. This was an urban block with several multi family houses and a few apartment buildings, I'm guessing street parking is not an issue if this is a street with mostly single family homes.

[fn2187]

In my ‘hood, I find them to be dangerous at times. Cars speed like crazy and then slam breaks at the bumps and some even drive recklessly around them. Also, if backing out of the driveway. It’s awkward driving over them backwards. So I get not liking them. I’m all for safety but I haven’t seen these to be successful in residential neighborhoods by me.

[whattheheck]

Feb 15, 2024 14:58:45 GMT -5 bex1973 said:

Until this thread I didn't know speed bumps/humps was ReGiOnAl. I've never heard them called humps before LOL

In my state they are actually two different things.

[simpsongal]

I have one right in front of my house - I like it b/c it slows traffic down in front of my house. I don't love the sign on my corner that says "hump"

Hearing cars bottom out on it brings me a little joy - SLOW DOWN. We also go all out w/xmas lights, so the speed bump on the semi-busy road makes for a good combo there.

[icedcoffee]

I hate speed bumps. They wanted to put them on my street and I was like eff no. We have a stop sign in front of our house. People already blow through that. I speed bump won’t slow down the people blowing through stop signs. They will just irritate me and make my purse fall on the ground everytime I leave my house.

[Susie]

I don't have much sympathy for "I'm not crazy about the thought of one of these being installed directly in front of my house.  I'm all for safety of the kids but..."

It feels like "...not in my [front] yard" is what comes next.  NIMBY (or NIMFY in this case) is not a good look.

The safety concern is relevant, but I'd guess other people (like city/town engineers) are probably better positioned than you are to assess that in a balanced and objective way.  I can see kids accelerating downhill at the speed bump and then probably trying to catch air on their bikes being less than ideally safe.  But it's hard to separate that from your first point, and hard to know how big an issue it really is from here.

I think I wouldn't like it immediately at the end of my driveway because it would make backing out really awkward, but I wouldn't care if it was in front of my *house*.  I acknowledge that there is some privilege in having a wide enough lot that these aren't exactly the same.

[meanie]

I think speed hump/bumps are most effective when placed consecutively in groups of 3+. One is just going to surprise people into slamming on their brakes or bottoming out their car. I guess the placement of the one near your house would depend on where the other ones are going to be.

Will there be a town meeting where this is discussed? There should be a planning board that can provide the traffic study and logic behind where they are being installed.

[mrsukyankee]

Feb 15, 2024 14:58:45 GMT -5 bex1973 said:

Until this thread I didn't know speed bumps/humps was ReGiOnAl. I've never heard them called humps before LOL

In England they are called humps.

[rhian]

Feb 15, 2024 15:05:46 GMT -5 simpsongal said:

Hearing cars bottom out on it brings me a little joy - SLOW DOWN. 

Yes I also felt this way! That's what you get for not slowing down!

[heygrey]

It would shock me if residents get a say in where they are placed. There is logic and reasoning and engineering (or should be) for where they are installed.

We have several humps in our neighborhood. I wouldn’t say they are super successful at slowing down traffic, but they are fine. There is a flat spot in the middle for motorcycles and the edges don’t extend all the way to the curb so kids on bikes, etc. learn to navigate them just fine.

[loira]

Feb 15, 2024 15:16:45 GMT -5 mrsukyankee said:

Feb 15, 2024 14:58:45 GMT -5 bex1973 said:

Until this thread I didn't know speed bumps/humps was ReGiOnAl. I've never heard them called humps before LOL

In England they are called humps.

I always loved the signs that said "humps for (x distance)".

[waverly]

How does the neighbor know where they will go? And how can you all determine where they go? Becuase I thought it was based on civil engineering, and that a civil engineer would know the proper placement for a speed bump in regards to a hill. In fact, I actually don't think they would put one where we are due to the steep hills.

[bunnies]

Feb 15, 2024 15:03:46 GMT -5 whattheheck said:

Feb 15, 2024 14:58:45 GMT -5 bex1973 said:

Until this thread I didn't know speed bumps/humps was ReGiOnAl. I've never heard them called humps before LOL

In my state they are actually two different things.

I've always known them as two different things, too:

[mala]

I haven't read all the responses. We have speed bumps in our neighborhood. They're not in front of my house, I live at the end of a cul-de-sac, but it wouldn't bother me if they were (we actually put an offer in on another house in this neighborhood that was in front of one). It would bother me if it was at the bottom of a hill for safety. None of the speed bumps here are at the bottom of a hill. Two are at about 1/4 of the hill height from the top of the hill with one of them being about 15ft from the turn to our court. That one is annoying since it's bump and turn but it's not the end of the world. The third is on a straight section. I'd be worried about the bottom of the hill and being the de-facto first aid stop when kids get hurt.

ETA: Technically we have "speed humps"

[bex1973]

Feb 15, 2024 15:24:57 GMT -5 bunnies said:

Feb 15, 2024 15:03:46 GMT -5 whattheheck said:

In my state they are actually two different things.

I've always known them as two different things, too:

Huh. I had no idea! I learned something today.

[jamaicam]

Feb 15, 2024 15:16:45 GMT -5 mrsukyankee said:

Feb 15, 2024 14:58:45 GMT -5 bex1973 said:

Until this thread I didn't know speed bumps/humps was ReGiOnAl. I've never heard them called humps before LOL

In England they are called humps.

what happened to Sleeping Policemen! I also call them that whcih I assume is a British thing? 

[pixy0stix]

Feb 15, 2024 15:22:02 GMT -5 waverly said:

How does the neighbor know where they will go? And how can you all determine where they go? Becuase I thought it was based on civil engineering, and that a civil engineer would know the proper placement for a speed bump in regards to a hill. In fact, I actually don't think they would put one where we are due to the steep hills.

This is correct. They'll do (or probably have already done) a traffic study on the road. In general, they'll listen to community input and may make slight tweaks, but it's never a lot.

Source - I knew my city's process inside and out because people would call my former dept with complaints all the time. My favorite was when I was given permission to tell people that the bumps were engineered to the right height for the speed limit, and if they were bottoming out they were going too fast.

[sunshineluv]

I didn’t read the replies, but in my last house a speed hump was installed right in front of my house. I liked it, it slowed people down, which was the point I guess 😀. I would love speed humps in our neighborhood now, it wouldn’t be in front of my house this time because we are at a corner with a stop sign.

[lavenderblue]

I guess I don't understand why you wouldn't want it in front of your house. They have to go somewhere, right? I guess maybe if it somehow impedes your ability to pull in or out of your driveway? I don't know, I would be totally fine if the borough wanted to install one in front of my house, but I live in a dead end neighborhood so we don't really issues with speeding.

[Vespasia]

I'm actually annoyed they didn't put any closer to my house. We're on a busy main road where they wouldn't be appropriate by our side street seems to have new ones on every block except the one closest to our house/where we exit our alley. I don't know why they skipped that block, especially since there is a day care on the corner.

I'd have no issues if there was one in front of my house if I lived on the right type of street. 

[mrshandy]

As the person who worked hard to get speed humps on my road, I can share my experience.

The city decides where they go, but IME the people that lived in front of them had to say yes to having them in order for them to be installed. If they said no then the city would have to come up with another location for them and they would have to get the ok from those people.

As far as whether they work, I can say they have made a big difference at my house. We're right in the middle of two of them. I can back out of my driveway so much easier. My kids can run across the street without a car racing down the street. Our elementary school is a few blocks away and 90% of the kids at school are walkers so it's made the street safer for everyone.

Speed humps and speed bumps are actually different things I think it depends on the gradient level.

My advice be a good neighbor and say yes. I'm forever grateful to my neighbors who said yes to the speed humps on our street.

[bex1973]

Feb 15, 2024 16:01:28 GMT -5 mrshandy said:

As the person who worked hard to get speed humps on my road, I can share my experience.

The city decides where they go, but IME the people that lived in front of them had to say yes to having them in order for them to be installed. If they said no then the city would have to come up with another location for them and they would have to get the ok from those people.

As far as whether they work, I can say they have made a big difference at my house. We're right in the middle of two of them. I can back out of my driveway so much easier. My kids can run across the street without a car racing down the street. Our elementary school is a few blocks away and 90% of the kids at school are walkers so it's made the street safer for everyone.

Speed humps and speed bumps are actually different things I think it depends on the gradient level.

My advice be a good neighbor and say yes. I'm forever grateful to my neighbors who said yes to the speed humps on our street.

This is baffling to me because the home owner doesn't own the road. It's not part of their property. I mean I guess I could see wanting to get buy in/keep the peace but ultimately the engineers have the knowledge to understand where they should go. It's weird to me.