Road Access for Disabled Americans

= new, = less new, = least new

Slowdown to Emergency Response

Disabled people are often dependent upon, and aware of their dependence upon, prompt response during both fire and medical emergencies. In cities where the impact of traffic calming on emergency response is carefully evaluated, the studies show an increased response time.

Speed Humps = Greater Risk

"Speed trapped", Orlando Weekly, Jeffrey C. Billman, August 17-23, 2000

"...the 259-page master's thesis recently written by Austin, Texas, Assistant Fire Cheif Les Bunte. In "Traffic Calming Programs and Emergency Response: A Competition of Two Public Goods," the 27-year firefighting veteran makes a startling observation."

"Using a detailed formula developed by Boulder, Colo., scientist Ray Bowman, Bunte determined that in Austin, at least 37 people would die because of slower emergency response time for every one life saved by slower traffic. Since Bunte took into account only deaths from sudden cardiac arrest - and not from delayed fire response or any other condition - that number could be higher."

[RADA: Viewing the manuscript file requires Adobe Acrobat Reader. The manuscript file is 1.27 MB.
The text of Chapter 5, Civil Liability Issues is available in HTML format.
The link to Ray Bowman's analysis is given below.]

IAFC members -
To obtain a copy of the report referred to in "On Scene", email KCALONGNE@compuserve.com.

Canadian Fire Fighters Oppose Devices

• IAFF Canadian Journal, Volume 4, Issue #1, 2000
  "Traffic Calming Devices - Why fire fighters have given them a rough ride..."
  • "Speed bumps are a workplace hazard for fire fighters." - City Councillor, Peterborough, Ontario
  • "...speed bumps 'have significantly reduced the response times of all emergency vehicles responding to 911 calls, jeopardizing the lives of the citizens within our communities.' "
  • "...speed bumps are a no-win situation for fire trucks. If taken at any speed, they can result in fire fighter injury - even seat-belted fire fighters can strike their heads on the roof of the cab, and there are cases of vertebral compression leading to permanent disability. On the other hand, slowing a truck for speed bumps or navigating other traffic calming devices adds to response time, crucial seconds at a time when every second counts."
  • "We've had injuries and guys on WCB because of speed bumps." - Ron Phillips, President, Nepean IAFF Local 1487
  • "...the devices 'throw a loop into the driver's concentration.' " - Bill Cole, President, Ottawa IAFF Local 162
  • "...fire vehicles have sustained suspension damage after passing over speed bumps."
• Ontario Professional Fire Fighters Association (1999 Convention in Windsor) resolved to align itself with other emergency care responder unions that are "against such devices being implemented on public streets."

Negative Impact on Emergency Services

• Risk Management Analysis
  "Deaths Expected from Delayed Emergency Response Due to Neighborhood Traffic Mitigation",
  Ronald R. Bowman, Boulder, Colorado, April 3, 1997

• Excerpts from Memorandum by the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions
  30th April 1999 (Britain)

  "3. Road humps have a far greater impact on vehicles than other traffic calming features. Research has shown that they can be difficult for large, wide axle vehicles to traverse unless the humps are specially designed to accommodate such vehicles. An inevitable result of their shape and design is that they cause discomfort to passengers travelling, for example, in ambulances."

  "4. ...gateways, chicanes, rumble devices, rumble areas, build-outs, islands, pinch points and overrun areas. They offer alternatives to the use of road humps and are used in many situations where road humps are not suitable. These can include roads used by emergency vehicles."

• One Fatality Every 50 Years
  "Traffic Calming Evaluation Example" from "Traffic Calming - Benefits, Costs and Equity Impacts", Todd Litman, Victoria Transport Policy Institute, December 7, 1999
  "Traffic Calming Evaluation Example - This example illustrates the evaluation of a major traffic calming program in an urban neighborhood with 5,000 residents living in 2,000 households."
  "Road Safey Benefits - Historical data indicates that there are an average of 50 PDO crashes, 10 injury crashes, and 0.02 fatal crashes (i.e., one fatality every 50 years) on the roads to be traffic calmed."
  [RADA: (1.) boldface added to original text for emphasis, (2.) "PDO" = property damage only]

Negative Impact on Ambulance Service

• GREAT BRITAIN
  • NATIONWIDE
    Great Britain's Transport Minister says that as of May 1998, there has been no evaluation of the medical effects of road humps on patients being transported by ambulance.
  • YORK
    "Show us the way to go home", The Evening News, York, Phillip Chapman, June 26, 2000
    "Geoff Farnworth, divisional officer in the control room at North Yorkshire Ambulance Service, said: '... We have certain standards to meet and we have to have vehicles at the scene of a Category A emergency within eight minutes. That's a life-or-death situation like a heart attack.
    'Before road humps came in we used to be able to get from the station to Acomb within the required time, but now it can take up to ten minutes.' "
  • HUDDERSFIELD, Kirklees
    Press Releases from Kirklees Council
    • April 2, 1998 - "Work started ... to remove speed reduction cushions ... to provide a smooth route from the main Wakefield Road to the Kirkwood Hospice."
    • April 27, 1998 - "A few humps will be left ... until the replacement road safety features ... can be provided."
    • August 6, 1998 - "Work continues on the removal of speed cushions..."
• UNITED STATES
  • COLORADO, Boulder
    Pridemark Ambulance Service, letter, June 23, 2000
    "Traffic mitigation devices that slow personal vehicles will also slow ambulances and other emergency vehicles. This delays our arrival to the scenes of medical emergencies and transports to the hospitals. Speed bumps and other vertical devices cause discomfort to our patients and make it harder for us to deliver patient care en route to a medical facility."
  • FLORIDA, Pembroke Pines
    Are speed bumps safer?, MSNBC, Miami/Ft. Lauderdale, April 25, 2000
    "An ambulance going over a speed bump is not a fun place to be. The driver who may be speeding to a scene or a hospital has to suddenly slow down. When the ambulance hits the speed bump, there is a big noise and paramedics go flying up from their seats. If you’re on a stretcher with some sort of injury, you’d really feel a jolt.
    .
    "More than one Fire Chief wants homeowner associations to remove speed bumps. Pembroke Pines Fire Chief Vito Splendorio says they damage his top-heavy trucks and can put people’s lives in danger.
    .
    "While talking to the Miami Herald, Splendorio said, 'Our trucks have to crawl over them. If we are carrying someone with a neck or spinal injury, you can’t go more than 5mph over them. Can you imagine doing an IV with a patient and hitting a bump?'
    .
    "According to fire officials, traffic-slowing devices can also lengthen response times to fires or medical emergencies."
    .
  • First-hand account of being the back of an ambulance travelling over humps. [RADA: No longer available online, contact us for text.]

Negative Impact on Fire Department Response

• CANADA
  • CARLINGTON, Ottawa
    "Take Westgate Speed Hump Away", Carlington Summit - Carlington Community Association, Frances Tanner, December 2000
    "...the Fire Department has expressed strong concern about speed humps on regional roads such as Merivale, which is close enough to the Kirkwood fire station to be a major response route.
    "CCA president Jim Maclean distributed copies of a regional consultant’s report assessing traffic measures, which found the Merivale hump had reduced speed somewhat, although the Ottawa Pedestrian Advisory Group thought it ineffective. Some drivers swerve towards the curb to avoid the hump, making pedestrians and cyclists feel more unsafe."
  • ONTARIO, Ottawa
    "Traffic-calming policy under fire: Life and death at stake, safety and emergency officials warn", The Ottawa Citizen, Mohammed Adam, July 19, 1999
    "On the heels of that fire, Ottawa Fire Chief Gary Richardson warned it is only a matter of time before delays caused by traffic-calming devices result in serious consequences. Other emergency service providers agree."
    " 'We try and get to our patients as quickly as we can, and on some ambulance calls -- where somebody is not breathing like a heart attack or drowning -- every second counts,' said Bob Burnett, operations manager for Ottawa-Carleton Regional Ambulance Service."
    "For fire, ambulance and police vehicles travelling to an accident scene, every second is important and a momentary delay because of speed humps and road barriers can mean the difference between life and death, said Emile Therrien, head of the Canada Safety Council."
    "Though the fire on Cambridge Street is the latest catalyst for debate, the complaints over traffic-calming are not limited to that small street. Both Mr. Therrien and Fire Chief Richardson also oppose the series of speed humps along Lyon Street leading up to the Queensway on-ramp."
• UNITED STATES
  • ARIZONA, Mesa
    • Speed Humps and the Mesa Fire Department, City of Mesa, January 20, 2000
      "... goal to respond to all emergencies within three minutes, 80% of the time. ... At four minutes brain damage begins..."
      "Each speed hump fire department vehicles must travel over increases response time... "
  • CALIFORNIA
    • Auburn
      Urgent Neighborhood Alert, Auburn Taxpayers and Parents for Safe Streets and Rapid Police, Fire & Paramedic Response, California, 1999
      • "Rapid response time during an emergency is our biggest asset. Speed bumps and grades are our biggest liabilities, and now Mikkelsen Drive has both! As your fire chief, my greatest concern is getting our equipment to your home as quickly as possible, and the speed bumps on Mikkelsen Drive will delay us! From a a safety standpoint, I would strongly recommend other means for speed control that do not affect your Fire Departments' ability to reach you when you urgently need us."
        - Howard Leal, Fire Chief, City of Auburn
      • "When I supervised police officers in Roseville, the speed bumps were a real hardship during emergencies. Some police and fire vehicles were damaged by them. Ultimately the City of Roseville had to enact a moratorium on speed bumps seven years ago due to citizen complaints and public safety concerns. Remember that when you have an emergency, every second counts and speed bumps obstruct emergency vehicles that are rushing to help you."
        - F.C. "Rocky" Rockholm, Sgt., Roseville Police Department (Retired); Former President, Roseville Police Officers Association
    • Berkeley
      Memorandum, May 8, 1995 (reasons for BFD's opposition to further installation of speed humps)
    • Coto de Caza - Channel 2, Los Angeles, CBS News, October 7, 1998
      Firefighters Want Speed Bumps Bumped - Authorities Say They Increase Emergency Response Time
      "Fire officials complain that their 13-ton engines must slow to a crawl over these humps, letting precious seconds tick by while potentially life-threatening situations go untreated, the wire service said. Otherwise, firefighters who speed over the mounds might otherwise damage delicate equipment such as defibrillators, or snap a fire engine's suspension like a twig."
    • Roseville
      • Memorandum on Fire Department's Time Trials, Goals & Recommendations
        "...emergency response time decreased 10 - 12 seconds per speed hump."
      • Time Trial Results in table-format and in text reader format
        For a stunning example of the slowdown "downstream" from the Roseville Time Trial Results, see "Fire Station #4 to Rocky Ridge (17 speed bumps)" - table-format or text reader format
    • San Diego
      Road Hump Evaluation Program, Executive Summary, Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc., 1997
      "Following the initial installation of road humps in the City of San Diego in 1991, the following concerns have surfaced:
      • Damage to emergency vehicles traversing road humps
      • Reduction in emergency vehicle response times
      • Proliferation of road humps to address diverted traffic due to installations on neighboring streets
      • "Deviations from installation criteria ("political" road humps)"
    • Santa Monica
      "Council Approves Traffic Calming Recommendations", Santa Monica Mirror, Carolanne Sudderth, February 16-22, 2000
      "Fire Department Chief Ettore Berardinelli said that so-called "traffic calming" devices virtually stopped his Department's big trucks. 'You have to brake to a virtual stop, and roll over the bumps,' he said. On average, it takes an extra 6 1/2 seconds per axle to slow and roll over a traffic bump. The hook-and-ladder has three axles."
    • Santee (San Diego area)
      • "...we've never been unable to make our destination no matter how many speed bumps are in the way. To tell you how much it slows us down I can't really say".
        - Jim Covington of the Santee Fire Department,
        Traffic Advisory Committee meeting tapes, January 31, 2000, (information provided by Lisa Carroll of Santee)
      • "Santee fire chief dead wrong on speed humps", Letter to the Editor, San Diego Union Tribune, May 25, 2000
        "...there are eight speed humps before you reach the residents at the end of this street."
  • COLORADO, Boulder
    • "Why Has Service Declined?", The City of Boulder - Fire Master Plan
      "Traffic mitigation also creates an adverse impact as fire engines slow to maneuver around and over mitigation devices."
    • SECONDS COUNT!
      "Ballot Question 2A is a citizen-sponsored initiative to improve emergency response in Boulder, Colorado. It was placed on the November 2000 ballot through a successful, grassroots petition drive under the banner SECONDS COUNT! The proposed ordinance prohibits two kinds of traffic devices proven by city tests to delay fire trucks and ambulances."
  • MAINE, Portland
    Text of Chief Thomas's letter and Captain Wassick's memo, regarding the impact on emergency apparatus.
  • MARYLAND, Montgomery County (time trial report) / Speed humps on route to fire
  • NEVADA, Clark County
    "Trying to Tame Town Traffic", Las Vegas Review-Journal, Steve Friess, April 06, 1999
    "County policy bars the use of obstructions on public roads, because officials fear they will delay emergency response vehicles.
    " 'They require that we slow down substantially,' said Clark County Deputy Fire Chief Ralph King. 'You virtually come to a standstill. I hated it.'
    "Romer said concern existed that motorists might sue the county for damage to vehicles, that expensive fire equipment could be harmed and that such bumps would inflict pain on drivers with spinal ailments. "
  • NEW JERSEY, Princeton
    "Islands are not calming to neighbors - Traffic-calming devices upset Hodge Road area residents", Princeton Packet, Jennifer Potash, May 13, 2000
    "...members of the Princeton Fire Department and the Princeton First Aid & Rescue Squad, are concerned that emergency responses will be delayed by the islands and speed humps.
    "During a time trial with one of the fire trucks Tuesday afternoon, the trip from Bayard Lane through Hodge Road to Elm Road took 21 seconds longer than the trip from Bayard Lane to Elm Road on Cleveland Lane, Mr. Peters said. Cleveland Lane and Hodge Road are parallel.
    "Ray Wadsworth, a member of the Princeton Fire Department, implored the council to take out all of the traffic-calming devices not only because of the response-time delays but because the trucks suffered some minor damage clearing the speed humps.
    "Princeton First Aid & Rescue Squad Chief Greg Paulson expressed concern that the delays his crew experienced on Hodge Road would add to the response times to the Western Section of the borough and locations in Princeton Township via Hodge Road. He also said the ambulances had problems clearing the speed humps. "
  • NEW MEXICO, Albuquerque
    • Albuquerque Journal, "ABQjournal Road Warrior", D'Val Westphal, February 15, 2000
      'Lt. David J. Dryden of the Bernalillo County Fire Department says in his e-mail that
      "speed humps do slow our responses very much. These humps slow our vehicles to an absolute crawl, virtually having to come to a complete stop on some of them to avoid damaging our expensive vehicles. ... it would truly help our service to the citizens if we can get the truth out." '
  • OREGON, Portland
  • TEXAS, Houston - Houston Chronicle, Rad Sallee, May 18, 2000
    Speed humps issue divides subdivision"
    "(Assistant Fire Chief Robert) Britt said the station's four shift chiefs agreed that the asphalt mounds would damage emergency vehicles or slow them down. "

• News Articles - [RADA: * = No longer available online, contact us for text.]
  • Colorado Daily (If you cannot view this with Netscape, try Explorer.)
    • * Article on speed hump removal
    • * Sidebar with info on impact on Fire/EMS response
  • Gazette / Gaithersburg, Maryland
    • * "Fatal fire renews speed hump debate"
    • * "Rescuers find speed humps slow response"
  • Los Angeles Times
    • "Firefighters Hit Roof Over Speed Bumps"

© Rada Project, 1998
July 4, 1998 / last update: September 12, 2000 (Version 1.l)