How Speed Bumps Help in Road Safety

 How Speed Bumps Help in Road Safety

As more cars filled the roads, they went into quieter neighborhoods where they utilized their streets as an alternate route for getting around. This practice by motorists gave birth to the concept of traffic calming.

First developed in Europe in the late '60s, the concept of traffic calming is based on the idea that neighborhood streets should help create and preserve a sense of place, and in these areas, people should not be dominated by automobiles.

If one thinks about it, neighborhood streets should be a place where a family can take a stroll, children can play, people can ride their bikes and play with their pets; all without having to worry about the risk of getting hit by a speeding car. In the end, a neighborhood street isn't meant for cruising at high speeds; a thoroughfare or highway is. In fact, you most certainly can't play tag or take your dog for a stroll along the state intersection. Why can't that same condition be applied to a neighborhood street?

Even though traffic calming's concept has only come into existence relatively recently, its technology has existed for a long time. Traffic calming tools include speed bumps.

The Speed Bumps have been around since the early 20th century. Chatham, New Jersey, became the first town to erect speed bumps, raising its crosswalks five inches above the ground with the goal of slowing down speeding vehicles. Since then, you could find a speed bump virtually everywhere. Speed humps are also referred to as road humps, humpless, sleeping policemen, and slow children in different countries.

These traffic control devices help slow traffic down by forcing a moving vehicle to reduce its speed in order to conveniently and safely pass over them. They can cause vehicles to slow down to speeds as low as 5 mph. Traffic calming devices can be very effective when used as a method for slowing cars down. They can be made from a number of materials, from concrete and asphalt to plastic and rubber, the latter of which are prefabricated. While prefabricated Heavy Duty Speed Bumps are generally used in temporary situations, these are being considered permanent traffic control devices.

For one, a number of prefabricated speed bumps are made with compressed plastic which is a very durable material. The fact that they are easy to install is another advantage. What this means is you don't need specialized labor to install these devices. Likewise, what can be installed easily can be removed easily? If you need to make a major renovation to the road on which the speed bump is installed, you need only to remove the device, store it away as you make those renovations, and reinstall them when you're done.

One advantage of prefabricated speed bumps over concrete or asphalt ones is that some of them have pre-formed channels underneath, through which downpipes, cables, or hoses can be laid. You can certainly do this with the concrete or asphalt varieties but when these pipes or hoses need replacement, it becomes more of a hassle to replace or repair them.

It has been demonstrated that speed bumps effectively slow down speeding vehicles, making roads in residential neighborhoods safer. The next time you encounter one being installed in your neighborhood, keep that in mind. Keeping neighborhoods safe is certainly made easier with speed bumps.