As a full time Pedestrian , I want you all to obey the dang law , slow down! The COP can put a speeding ticket camera out there with a big reader board and this would stop pronto. Sam , think of the dough that camera would make , we could even afford to keep that school !
Put these raised walks in front of all the schools , and let them keep the speed camera income. Start with NW Glisan below 21st , man they rip through there night and day.

Re: "Scattered throughout the city, he said, are more than 1,000 speed bumps."

The city engineer's estimate seems far too low. In SE, streets without them have become rare. I certainly would not want to be in need of a fast trip in an ambulance to a hospital from SE.

At least one municipality -- Cambridge MA -- would not allow them, but that was a couple of decades ago. "For insurance reasons," the city engineer said. I hope that reasonably managed city has not adopted them, along with the 4-way stop.

I've never understood the logic of these speed bumps. If you want people to slow down, do what we do on the Eastside, install classic potholes! It slows cars down considerably, allows stormwater to collect and not go into sewers, it's enviromentaly friendly, (no nasty asphalt,) and it's cheap, allowing us to buy more cute trolleys!

Whine, whine, whine. Neighborhood association complains about lack of safety for their precious snowflakes crossing the road and get it. Neighborhood association complains about the safety features installed at their request.

Echoing the badly named teabagger crowd, the neighborhood whines about where the huge amount of taxes they pay go and demand tax cuts simultaneously with demanding increased services for paint for their requested safety feature. Government needs to get out of the way and do everything I want it to without regard to economies or cost-effectiveness.

Maybe those drivers should slow down? Oh, wait ... expecting any personal responsibility from people is crazy when they can simply blame the government for not solving their problems without allocating it any resources.

No money for paint but plenty for Roundup. Great choice!

Too bad the neighborhood didn’t bother to do a little research before doing something stupid. For instance they could have found this:

THINKING OF SIGNING THAT SPEED BUMP PETITION?

Here are some questions we thought you'd want the answers to. You may want to reconsider signing!

Fire at your house? Well, the fire truck will eventually arrive after it makes a complete stop at each bump. Time lost at each bump will be 15 seconds. Sit tight, help will arrive -- later.

Relative having a heart attack? The ambulance will be there -- later.

Does your youngster have skates, a skateboard or a bicycle? Speed bumps attract children into the street and into traffic. It's fun to jump those bumps! The ambulance will be there -- later!

Has snow removal been a problem? If it hasn't, it probably will be.

Is your house attractive? How will it look with two of those 2 1/2-feet-square "Speed Bump -- 20 mph" signs out in front? And those foot-wide zebra stripes on the bump? Lovely! Or maybe they won't be in front of YOUR house. Do you feel lucky?

What do you think will happen to the suspension and exhaust systems on your nice car at normal, legal speeds when you cross those bumps at least twice a day? Ouch! It's hard on the brakes, too. And what about your wallet? Ouch!

Some vehicles, like delivery trucks and maybe your own SUV, almost have to stop at speed bumps. What happens when vehicles unexpectedly stop in traffic? Back to the repair shop!

Are speed bumps good for the environment? No, the unnecessary slowing and accelerating they cause results in wasted fuel and increased air pollution. Bumps can cause noise pollution, too, because some drivers who aren't happy with them will lean on the horn button.

Any way you look at them, bumps are a major nuisance, and drivers may indeed avoid them so that traffic increases on neighboring streets. In any case, even if you're the only one left driving on your street, you'll have the pleasure of bounding over those bumps every day, again and again and again.

Next to last question: Who's paying the bill for installing or removing the bumps? (Hint: It's not the county.) You are! Ouch!

Have you thought about signing that petition? We hope you'll reconsider.
from: motorists.org/traffic-calming/flyer

Good intorduction: SecondsCount.org Lots of good links.

Here is what PDOT won’t tell you:
Traffic calming actually kills many times as may people by slowing emergency responses as are potentially saved by slowing traffic. See: http://blip.tv/file/2623809

Albuquerque New Mexico decided to remove speed humps because they save fewer lives through accident reduction than they lose due to slower emergency response. see: http://blip.tv/file/2652121

Even Portland’s auditor mentioned them:
Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) has constructed speed bumps and other traffic calming devices throughout the city which also slow emergency response vehicles.
Portlandfacts.com/calming.html

Thanks
JK

It seems counterproductive to have installed speed bumps, then dropped the only significant maintenance needed (painting every few years) because it was considered too expensive. If they are to be effective, they of course have to be seen by drivers.

If they are to be effective, they of course have to be seen by drivers.
JK: Oh, but they are effective, even without being marked, at the job they do best - slowing emergency vehicles (they all have maps of where these bumps are so that they can slow down to a crawl to avoid damaging their fragile patients or firemen in the rigidly sprung firetrucks. Maps also let them choose non-bump routes that are slower.)

Thanks
JK

can slow down to a crawl

Exaggerations don't help your case.

Drive down SW Capital, people crawl over the bumps then gas it to the next one.

JK, an informed citizen like you should know that new traffic calming devices are prohibited on Major Emergency Response Routes. These are defined in the Transportation System Plan. See page 2-18:

http://www.portlandonline.com/transportation/index.cfm?c=52495&a=155093

new traffic calming devices are prohibited on Major Emergency Response Routes
JK: Get back to us when PDOT actually cares enough about safety (instead of streetcars & bike paths) to remove the existing ones like this shown in the city auditor's report http://www.portlandfacts.com/calming.html

And ALL speed bumps are on a street used for the last leg of some emergency calls, since the emergency vehicle must go to the actual house involved.

Thanks
JK

can slow down to a crawl
Exaggerations don't help your case.

JK: Would nine seconds for a speed bump qualify as a crawl?
PBOT and PF&R have measured the response delay caused by speed bumps. They found that depending on the type of response vehicle, its speed, and the type of speed bump installed, each speed bump can add up to nine seconds of delay.
from page 20 of http://www.portlandonline.com/auditor/index.cfm?c=51639&a=307535

Thanks
JK

I hit that very speed bump four times a week. I slow down if kids are present, or somebody appears ready to cross. Otherwise, I hit it between 25-30 MPH .

It's no worse than the speed bumps in front of Wilson High. I can't believe this makes the news, but Mayor Creepy's Nixonian firings hardly merits a headline.

Has a lawsuit ever been initiated and concluded against PBOT for damages incurred owing to a speed bump? Will legal action(s) be required before PBOT reassesses its single-minded response to excessive speed on residential streets? In the case of bike lanes, fatalities were necessary before PBOT acknowledged partial responsibility.

Suggestion: honk at every bump. Make neighbors crazier...

Get a gallon of paint and paint that sucker.

My question is very simple. How many pedestrian v.s. vehicle accidents are we having every month in our neighborhoods that demands the installing of speed bumps? Just because there's 3 idiots in my neighborhood who drive fast, does not mean that I want to ruin it for a couple 100 other neighbors and 1000s of commuters.

The problem is that we do NOT have a police presence in our neighborhoods and therefore instead of doing their jobs and expanding patrols, we are stuck with speed bumps.

I live on a street with speed bumps. It is now a bike blvd. there is a school just a couple blocks from my house. There are a lot of commuters that use this route. The city measured the traffic and found that thousands of cars went up and down every day and 85% of them were speeding. So it is not 3 drivers out of 100 as Rio says but 85 out of 100, going faster than 25mph.
I have seen kids running across the street and because of a speed bump and somebody slowing down, they avoided hitting the child...