Council to Rule on Speed Bumps Today

It was almost two years ago when Debbie Killelea, known for her volunteer work and for her efforts to have speed bumps installed in her busy neighborhood, was struck and killed by a drunk driver as she stood in the alley behind her home.

The teen-age driver, who had been driving nearly 50 miles an hour through the Balboa Peninsula alley, was later convicted of gross vehicular manslaughter.

As the community mourned her death, residents argued that it could have been prevented. The homeowners’ association in her neighborhood approached the City Council, neighbors and the press, arguing that speed bumps in the alleys and in some of the residential streets would force the tourists, many of whom are young, to slow down.

“We feel like we need to provide a balance for residents and tourists alike,” said Dayna Petit, an advocate of speed bumps.

After two years of lobbying for speed bumps, or road bumps as the new, larger versions of the asphalt mounds are called, Petit and others in the city are expected to get their wish today.

The City Council is expected to approve a program which would provide road bumps on some city streets where most of the neighbors want them, traffic engineer Rich Edmonston said.

The lumps are not the traditional, half-cylinder sort found in supermarket parking lots. Instead, they are circular mounds 12 feet in diameter and three inches high at the tallest part. Tests indicate that they slow 85% of drivers that pass over them by about five miles an hour, Edmonston said.

Newport Beach would be one of the first cities in the county to install the bumps on a regular basis. Currently, Edmonston said, only Sacramento and Pasadena use the road bumps extensively, although Anaheim is considering a similar policy.

The council will also consider how much to spend on the project next year. Each bump costs about $500, Edmonston said.

Before a bump is installed, a petition asking for one must be signed by at least 65% of the residents on the affected street. The street also cannot have any other stop signs and must average between 500 and 3,000 cars traveling on it each day.

Should the policy pass as written, a traffic committee will be established to determine the location of the first road bumps. Residents of those sites which are approved can either pay the costs of the installation on their own or line up for city funding, which would be determined by a priorities list.

Edmonston said he already has received letters from residents in “every nook and cranny” of the city applying for the bumps.