Fool me once, my fault.

Good point.

But then again, every once in a while, the city could peel off the decal and dig an actual hole...

Speed humps, bumps, and the like are a major pain. Out my way the FD finally put it's foot down when they quoted something like a delay of up to ten seconds per hump in response time. As a result we're not putting more in, and I suspect the old ones will eventually go away.

Of course we're not Portland, so good luck with your problems, guys.

We do still install humps called "pillows". They're small enough that fire trucks can straddle them, but big enough that a car must put at least one wheel over no matter what they do. I still hate driving over them but at least nobody's house will burn down because of it.

We don't need them in Portland - we've got the real deal, so we don't need no steenkin' photographs.

Please . . . nobody tell Sam Adams about this. He'll take credit and claim that we need to budget to make MORE potholes in the city!

I just went up Burnside, then down NW 23rd. It looked just like the photos, but they sure felt like major potholes. Sam is a genius in slowing down traffic.

But then again, every once in a while, the city could peel off the decal and dig an actual hole...

Hey, maybe they could use what they dig up to fill other potholes around the city!
Sort-of a "sustainable" plan for road repair...

Alexander: We do still install humps called "pillows". They're small enough that fire trucks can straddle them, but big enough that a car must put at least one wheel over no matter what they do. I still hate driving over them but at least nobody's house will burn down because of it.
JK: That is the good news. The bad news is that speed humps still kill people. Ambulances have a wheel base similar to a car, so they are delayed. Note the graph of delay time vs. deaths in the below video.

Here is a video of a presentation by a person from Texas A&M’s emergency services on the subject. He claims that many people die for each person saved.

PortlandDocs.com/video/LesBunte.wmv

(JK: But who cares how many die, because speed humps make a neighborhood activist feel good.)

Thanks
JK

Anybody got statistics on how many traffic fatalities are avoided by causing people to slow down? That would make me feel good.

The FD came and gave our neighborhood association an emotional plea, citing the 10 sec figure. They did that report a day or two before their second meeting with us. That was after so much resistance at a meeting about 6 months earlier. The chief shed big crocodile tears. Then the next year the closest fire station was shut down for renovation. Apparently that precious 10 seconds didn't matter then.

Anybody got statistics on how many traffic fatalities are avoided by causing people to slow down? That would make me feel good.

Do you honestly think speed bumps "...(cause) people to slow down"? In my experience they just cause people to speed up between the bumps.

Of course, I also honk every time I go over one. It just makes me feel good.

Do you honestly think speed bumps "...(cause) people to slow down"? In my experience they just cause people to speed up between the bumps.

Did you read the article? It has been statistically proven that they do cause people to slow down.

JHB, you didn't answer Jack's question. It was not "does speed bumps cause people to slow down?", but "how many TRAFFIC FATALITIES are avoided by people slowing down?". Big difference.

I don't recall the numbers, but the Texas A&M study shows many deaths due to delayed emergancy help for every one saved by slowing traffic.

Notice that speed bumps are only put on neoighborhood streets. That is where there are few traffic deaths and many people needing emergancy help.

Of course the other fallicy involved is confusing speed reduction with safety. The safest roads are the freeways. (Our local, overpaid, city planner seemed incapable of grasping this difference.)

FWIW: One European city removed all of them.

Thanks
JK

Did you read the article?

No, perhaps you could post the part where my observation is refuted.

... and then, of course, there's the whole issue of whether, as "Lee" points out, the bumps, humps, potholes, etc., actually DO anything beneficial.

I don't need a study to tell me they piss people off. Like most government attempts to save us from ourselves, they make no distinction about those they affect. Law breakers and legal drivers are treated the same.

How egalitarian, how insulting, how ineffective.

Interesting, this. I've seen a lot of statements here about how the city needs to fill all the potholes and pave all of the gravel roads, but I've never really understood. I live on a street in NW Portland that's completely free of potholes, it's baby-bottom smooth, and it drives me crazy. The cars go so fast, and I can't sleep at night with my window open because of all of the people with those obnoxious exhaust amplifiers that think they're in The Fast and the Furious.

I'd kill for a pothole or two on my street.

I'd kill for a pothole or two on my street..

Call Sam or Randy; they've got potholes aplenty. We need them to keep us humble. Potholes, that is.

Some of the speed bumps that Portland has put in recently seem to work backwards. They are horrible to go over at 20-25 MPH, but if you go over them at 30-40 MPH you hardly feel them. I think the traffic has actually sped up where they put two of these in. (I know I go faster.)

What's even better, is that if you have any skill at offroad driving, you can pre-load your suspension by braking a bit just before the bump, and then accelerate over it and you don't even feel it without slowing down.

This technique is used in offroad racing, and driving on crap roads in third-world countries to great effect.