The introduction of speed humps

Speed humps were introduced on roads in Bourne during 2009 in an attempt to stop motorists from speeding in built up areas.

The traffic calming scheme was introduced by Lincolnshire County County Council, the highways authority, at a cost of £120,000 with 57 speed humps or cushions installed in three streets where there had been complaints from residents about vehicles exceeding the 30 mph speed limit. Those affected were Beech Avenue (30), Austerby (10) and Mill Drove (17) despite protests from the town council whose members insisted that this was being done without their sanction.

The Mayor, Councillor Shirley Cliffe, was particularly incensed and she told The Local newspaper on March 6th: "I am exploding. There are far too many. I am dead against them. I know we wanted traffic calming but this is ridiculous. They are frustrating for drivers and residents and people in all of the areas affected will go mad with the noise they will cause.”

There were many other objections, notably old age pensioner Steve Townsend, aged 76, who lives in Beech Avenue where most of them were being laid, who pointed out in a letter to The Local that his front bedroom was a mere eight yards from the road and that the future appeared to be one of continuous noise and fumes once they were in place.

Speed humps have not had a good press with objections that they created excessive noise and vibrations likely to damage nearby properties and were not popular with the drivers of ambulances and fire engines. They have also been blamed for wrecking cars and a long list of potential hazards including broken springs, damaged steering, suspension and tyres including blowouts were likely while motor cycles and cycles could be destabilised if they hit them and even elderly pedestrians had been known to trip and break bones. In 2003, following a flood of complaints about damage to vehicles and even the death of a cyclist, 146 speed humps were removed from the streets of Derby at a cost to the taxpayer of over £460,000 and also brought about the downfall of the city council.

Nevertheless, the county council went ahead with its scheme and by mid-April the first thirty were installed along Beech Avenue but the cement was hardly dry before there was another flood of complaints and The Local newspaper reported on Friday 17th April that residents regarded them as a nuisance and had called upon the county council to remove them immediately. One protester, Alan Brain, aged 51, who lived in nearby Poplar Crescent, told the newspaper: “The speed humps have made Beech Avenue an assault course and drivers are now using alternative routes which were not designed to take that volume of traffic and could cause long term damage.” His criticisms were echoed by town councillor Trevor Holmes (Bourne West) who said that although traffic along Beech Avenue had been reduced, the humps had merely moved the problem elsewhere.

By July 2009, the project was completed in the Austerby and Mill Drove but again they resulted in a flood of complaints, notably from villagers at Dyke who protested that those in Mill Drove had prompted motorists to use their main street as a short cut, so turning it into a "rat run.

The council’s highways manager, Kevin Brumfield, said that the design of the humps had been widely advertised and comments from the public invited before they were installed although the project would be reviewed after 12 months and in the meantime, anyone with a complaint was advised to contact the town council.

Front page report from The Local newspaper - Friday 24th July 2009

REVISED JULY 2009

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