London traffic-calming 101 (or why am I driving over more speed bumps?)

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Speed bumps, humps, extended curbs and narrow streets. Road design features meant to discourage bad driving behaviour have fans and foes in London neighbourhoods. City staff have their eye on traffic-calming measures near schools and construction zones, but rely on residents to bring problem roads to their attention. Jennifer Bieman reports.

What are traffic-calming measures?

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Traffic-calming measures use roadway design features to nudge drivers to comply with speed limits and driving rules.  

Speed cushions – large, square, raised sections of a road – and the smaller speed humps and speed bumps are intended to discourage vehicles from zooming by. Drivers that speed into one of these obstacles can damage their vehicles.  

Other traffic-calming measures include raised intersections or crosswalks and extended curbs that narrow the road, said Doug MacRae, city hall’s transportation and mobility director. 

On-street parking also can help calm traffic, because drivers must slow down and be vigilant to avoid parked cars and pedestrians. 

Some traffic-calming features are permanent, while others, like flexible lane marker posts that cars must navigate carefully, are temporary, MacRae said.  

“They wouldn’t last beyond the first snowplow that goes by,” he said. 

How are they implemented?

Some traffic-calming measures are routinely implemented by city hall, such as in school zones or on streets near long-term construction projects, MacRae said. If, for example, a major artery is to be torn up for months, the city will look at nearby roads drivers might use as short-cuts and install temporary measures. 

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Other times, it’s up to residents to alert city hall to problem streets, he said. 

Residents can request a city hall traffic assessment by filling out a form and gathering 10 neighbours’ signatures to support the application. City staff will assess the street and may recommend a traffic-calming measure, such as speed bumps.  

Staff gather input from nearby residents during this assessment, MacRae said. 

“We’ve had this process for some time. It considers whether there is actual speeding happening and if traffic calming could have a positive impact. It also gauges community desire: Is it something the people on the street even want?” he said.  

“We recognize that residents are often very attached to their neighbourhoods. . . . We send a survey out to residents along the street . . . looking for a majority positive response.” 

The decision to install traffic-calming measures on a residential street – and which one – is made by city hall staff, not council. 

Speed bump opponents

Traffic, speeding and demands for speed bumps are among the top issues Ward 12 Coun. Elizabeth Peloza hears about from constituents.  

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“I don’t have a personal allotment of speed bumps to give out. I don’t have a say in the speed bumps that get given out,” she said. “All I can do is advocate that residents understand the process.” 

Some temporary traffic-calming measures have been implemented in the Lockwood Park neighbourhood to discourage speeding by motorists trying to avoid construction on the Wellington Gateway BRT project, Peloza said. 

But not everyone is a fan of traffic-calming measures, or that the decision to install them rests with city staff, not council, she said.  

“I think the process is working, but it doesn’t always mean residents like it,” Peloza said, adding some traffic-calming proponents are frustrated when city hall’s assessment doesn’t give them the answer they’re hoping for. 

“I have other residents who live around areas with traffic-calming measures who complain they can’t get out of their neighbourhood without going over speed bumps. They’re worried about wear and tear on their cars.” 

Speed bumps wanted

Peter Sengbusch and his wife no longer can enjoy sunsets from the front porch of their home of nearly 40 years. Traffic speeding down their south London street is just too much.  

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They live on Huntingdon Drive, a tree-lined residential street that intersects with Commissioners Road to the north and Chiddington Avenue to the south.  

“We call it the Huntingdon Drive speedway. Cars, especially ones coming off Commissioners, are going more than 60 km/h down our street,” Sengbusch said. 

Traffic on the street has become a free-for-all, he added. Drivers regularly zip down Huntingdon to avoid traffic on Upper Queen Street, a north-south stretch that runs parallel to Huntingdon one block to the west.  

The speed limit on Huntingdon is 40 km/h, but drivers regularly zip by well over the posted limit, Sengbusch said.  

“They treat it like it’s a suggestion. They speed up because they’re familiar with the road and it’s a wide street,” he said. “I’ve been out on the street before waving down speeders and they just give me the finger.”  

Neighbours are in the early stages of asking city hall to do a traffic-calming assessment on the residential stretch, said Huntingdon resident Sarah Campbell.  

“We’ll have no problem getting 10-plus houses,” she said. “Everyone in our little corner of the street will sign it. I could probably get everyone on Huntingdon to sign it.” 

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Things city hall considers

What traffic-calming measure is deployed depends on the characteristics of the street and neighbourhood, MacRae said. The city may extend the curb at an intersection, narrowing the roadway, instead of installing speed bumps. 

City hall aims to install speed bumps in sets of threes, not just one-offs, Peloza said. Some streets, like Sholto Drive just north of Exeter Road, are too short for speed bumps, for example.  

Speed bumps have breaks in them so emergency vehicles, with a wider wheelbase, can drive without hitting them. The city takes emergency services’ feedback on all traffic-calming measures seriously, MacRae said. 

“They have strict metrics that they work towards with respect to response times and that’s another reason we don’t just, willy-nilly, implement traffic-calming everywhere,” he said.  

Old vs. new neighbourhoods

City hall often hears traffic- and speed-related complaints from residents of older neighbourhoods, some built when car culture was in full swing and pedestrian-friendly roads weren’t top of mind, MacRae said.  

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“We have a lot of different eras of infrastructure design. They all have unique characteristics and pros and cons,” he said. “Making neighbourhoods more livable is what we’re all about.” 

New neighbourhoods are designed with traffic calming in mind, MacRae said. Roundabouts, sidewalks and narrower roads to discourage speeding are all common in the new era of neighbourhood design.  

When the city needs to fix or upgrade an aging road, plans include design features from this era of neighbourhood planning, MacRae said.  

“We’re hoping the new design standards for new subdivisions will put us ahead of the game,” MacRae said.  

jbieman@postmedia.com

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