Montgomery weighs relaxing speed bump rules
By: Kytja Weir
June 12, 2009
Montgomery County is considering rules that would mean more speed bumps on the county’s streets.
The backstory
Montgomery County first allowed speed bumps about 15 years ago, prompting many to be added to neighborhood streets. But a group called Save Our Streets gathered some 10,000 signatures on petitions to ban the bumps. The County Council issued a temporary moratorium, then issued new rules for the bumps in 1998 that limited where they could go.
County Executive Ike Leggett has proposed allowing speed bumps on streets with less traffic than currently required, as well as requiring fewer neighbors to approve them. The county estimates that 46 speed bumps would have been added to local roads in the past decade under the proposal.
But the plan may face a rough ride. The traffic-calming tools have been contentious for years, creating the opposite effect of the usual not-in-my-backyard dynamic. Some residents want them on their streets so cars don’t whiz by their homes. But those who live elsewhere — or even a few streets away — don’t like humping over the bumps.
Emergency responders have complained about the bumps, saying they can slow ambulances and firetrucks during emergencies and damage their equipment.
“Speed humps are some of the most controversial issues we deal with, right up there with speed cameras,” said Montgomery County Councilwoman Nancy Floreen, who is scheduled to head a committee discussion on the bumps Monday.
The issue arises as Leggett is trying to “fine-tune” the policy. The council’s staff has countered with some tweaks of its own. The humps are allowed on roads that carry 100 vehicles per hour. But Leggett proposed a sliding scale that takes speed and traffic volume into account.
The county also is recommending changes in who gets to weigh in on the issue. The county requires support from at least half of the side street residents whose only access to their homes crosses the proposed speed bumps. But the proposed change wouldn’t allow the say of those residents if they were outnumbered by a set margin of the homes directly on the street that would get the speed bumps.
Elizabeth and George Vary, of Bethesda, are asking for a second moratorium on speed bumps. They asked the county to let an entire neighborhood vote on a proposed bump, arguing that the rules “make little sense when you look at real-life examples” of which households would be affected. Two speed bumps are proposed for their Springfield neighborhood.
But the county memo countered, “If all residents of a neighborhood were allowed to weigh in, then it is unlikely that any more speed humps will be approved.”
