Potential or demonstrated dis-benefits are summarized below:
- Displaces traffic to parallel facilities
- May create discomfort for certain type of vehicles such as sports
vehicles and large trucks
- When installed on high volume roads or in conjunction with other
traffic control devices, it will result in unacceptable delays and level-
of-service
- Increases response time for emergency vehicles
As stated earlier, in general, the road humps as a traffic calming technique
have shown a significant positive impact in all measures of effectiveness. The
drop in traveling speeds and lower volumes generally equates to elevation of
the quality of life and fostering family recreational activities
in the neighborhoods. However, the application criteria used to evaluate
worthiness of road humps has been plagued by some inherent problems as listed
below:
- Residents/tenants do not have a voice in the process. Only "OWNERS" are
allowed to participate
- Residents and owners living on streets connected to the subject street
that must travel over the humps to get to their residences have no voice in
the process
- Displacement of traffic to adjacent streets due to the construction of the
humps results in traffic problems on those streets
- In neighborhoods without a Homeowners Association, lack of central
representation usually results in intense neighborhood disputes
- Sometimes less stringent yet effective solutions are not examined or
implemented
Since 1995, use of road humps as the promary traffic calming technique has
drastically changed to one of many effective solutions available for
implementation. The resultant shift in methodology has successfully placed
greater emphasis on other less stringent solutions with no new road humps
implemented in the recent several years.
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