The bumpy road to less speeding

— Photo by Alex Sims

From Robert Whitcomb’s “Digital Diary,’’ in GoLocal24.com

I have complained about the high bumps (which the city quaintly calls “humps’’) on the road coming off the Henderson Bridge and heading to Providence’s Wayland Square neighborhood. I suggested that they be “adjusted’’ – lowered – to avoid damaging vehicles and to discourage swerving. Driving there last week, I saw that the bumps had been removed. But modest bumps there would be good, discouraging drivers from speeding into Wayland Square, with its many walkers.

In general, speed bumps, with, on some roads, indentations so that fire trucks can speed through,  are  a very good idea. They needn’t be quite as high  as those above were to make drivers slow down. An important factor in their effectiveness is adequate warning. Two warning signs well spaced instead of one would lead to more slowing well before the bumps. Those electronic signs that flash your speed can be very useful, too.

Traffic calming is needed to improve safety and the quality of life in the city. Bumps and electronic warnings can be important parts of that, freeing up police officers to spend more time preventing and responding to serious crime. And cars going very fast are often driven by criminals. If they hit a speed bump at, say, 80 miles an hour, it could stop them very quickly, indeed perhaps ruin the vehicle they’re in  – making it easier for the cops to arrest them. It’s hard to escape in a car with a broken axle.

And if the city fines a lot of people of people for speeding (as they have me a couple of times), well, the city can use the money, and the threat of fines may save some lives.