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Speed humps? It’s time to get over them, drivers
• I CAMPAIGNED (successfully) with many others for a 20mph zone in the Highbury Fields area, which was installed last year. The aim of the scheme was to slow through traffic to a speed that keeps the roads around Islington’s main green space safe for the countless pedestrians and cyclists passing through daily.
Councillor Wally Burgess suggests that the council should be coming up with “a more rational and less mindless method of speed enforcement” (Speed hump worship is losing us all sleep, January 2). I’d like to know what he has in mind.
When we campaigned for “twenty’s plenty” around Highbury Fields, we discovered that 20mph zones have to be self-enforcing, so physical measures are required. The campaign group looked at chicanes (road narrowings), which involve the loss of parking spaces and can encourage drivers to speed up recklessly to get through before oncoming traffic, and average speed check cameras, which would work but are currently not legal for speed enforcement in residential areas. It was clear that sinusoidal speed humps were the most effective option currently available and, importantly, attracted funding from Transport for London.
Unlike conventional humps, which jolt your car and can feel like you’ve hit a kerb, sinusoidal humps are smooth and comfortable to drive over at 20mph. They allow drivers to maintain a steady 20mph without the stop-start driving style associated with the old humps, which cause drivers to slow right down as they cross each hump, speeding up between them.
I understand that the council plans to replace the conventional Barnsbury humps with sinusoidal humps when Thames Water digs up the roads to replace Victorian water mains. Co-ordinating these works to minimise disruption to residents seems to be an entirely rational approach.
The majority of Islington residents do not own a car or van and many of those residents who do have cars are using them less frequently than they used to. Those of us walking our children to school or accessing public transport, shops and other amenities on foot are grateful for the council officers’ efforts to slow traffic, making the borough’s streets safer for us all.
Caroline Russell
Living Streets, N1
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