Controversy Putting Brakes on the Use of Speed Bumps

They give peace of mind to traffic-weary residents and jolt the bones of rogue motorists whizzing down the street.

But as speed bumps become more popular on the American road, they have found a new enemy in firefighters and paramedics who say the devices slow their response to emergency calls.

Communities from Santa Monica to San Diego are struggling with the issue, while other cities such as Berkeley and Boulder, Colo., have placed moratoriums on new speed bumps until emergency response issues are ironed out.

In few places have the battle lines been more clearly drawn than in Coto de Caza, where the Orange County Fire Authority is demanding that the upscale, gated private community remove the nearly 30 speed bumps that dot the hilly streets.

Leaders of the homeowners association in the unincorporated area are balking at the order, even though the Fire Department threatened them with misdemeanor charges that could bring jail terms unless officials comply.

“People don’t realize we have 500 gallons of water inside those fire engines,” said Blake Garlin, a 23-year veteran firefighter who until recently worked at Coto de Caza’s station. “With that weight, we can’t take bumps very fast. We have to come to almost a complete stop.”

Fire officials emphasize that quick response is critical in any emergency and cite studies showing that speed bumps slow down fire engines.

“Seconds matter when you are talking about life and death,” said Capt. Jim Jacobs of the Los Angeles County Fire Department, which strongly discourages the use of speed bumps. “If you have a heart attack, the optimum [response] time is between four and six minutes. And now you are adding to it.”

Jacobs and others could not point to specific examples in which delays from speed bumps resulted in loss of life or property. But Capt. Scott Brown of the Orange County Fire Authority noted that it takes only about five minutes for a fire to burn beyond its flash-over point and quickly spread.

The issue is particularly relevant in Southern California, given its heavy dependence on the automobile. The region is also home to nearly 200 private communities such as Coto de Caza, many of which rely on bumps to enforce speed limits because police generally don’t patrol their streets.

Fire officials say simply getting through the gates adds crucial seconds to response times, and the speed bumps just add more delays.

“This is an issue that is going to get wider and deeper and bigger,” said Ed Blakely, dean of USC’s School of Urban Planning and Development, noting that Southern California leads the nation in the number of such communities.

The proliferation of speed bumps extends beyond private communities. The bumps are also part of a larger trend in public road management called “traffic calming,” which is fast becoming the predominant philosophy of transportation engineers.

The concept employs physical devices such as bumps, traffic circles, road medians and extended sidewalk chokers to better control--and slow down--vehicles, especially in residential areas.

In private communities, the bumps are installed and financed by homeowner associations. On public streets, municipal governments control where the devices are placed.

Traffic Diverted Off Residential Streets

“It has gone from a handful of places to hundreds over the last five years,” said Reid Ewing, an urban planner and author of a Federal Highway Administration study on traffic calming due out later this year.

Speed bumps have become increasingly common on the streets in Ventura County communities such as Simi Valley, despite occasional protests from some residents that the devices slow paramedics and firefighters.

Ventura County’s Transportation Department used to allow the fire department to veto any speed- bump requests. But in 1993, the county changed that policy because officials felt decisions should be made based on traffic engineering and not fire response concerns, said principal engineer Bob Brownie.

In cities with advanced programs, such as Seattle, Portland and Pasadena, traffic calming has been successfully used to divert commuter traffic off residential streets and on to major thoroughfares.

But at what cost?

The city of Portland in 1995 conducted a study to determine exactly how much fire response was affected by traffic calming.

The study concluded that each bump adds as much as 9.4 seconds to emergency response times, depending on the type of fire truck and the size of the bump. Traffic circles added even more time, as much as 10.7 seconds.

Testers found that smaller emergency vehicles, such as rescue trucks, generally experienced the least delays. In some cases, the bumps caused no delays.

Larger fire trucks and engines generally experienced greater delays, and truck engineers complained the bumps damaged their equipment.

The study tested two types of bumps: 22-foot-wide devices and 14-foot-wide ones. But the devices come in a variety of sizes and designs. Many communities across the nation--including Coto de Caza--use bumps that average 12 feet wide and three inches high.

In Orange County, the fire authority conducted a study that revealed response times in neighborhoods served by Fire Station 40 in Coto de Caza were not meeting department standards.

The department’s goal is a response time of five minutes or less for 80% of calls. By contrast, the Coto de Caza station was meeting that mark for only 22% of calls.

Community Split Over Solution

Brown, the fire authority spokesman, said some local residents began raising concerns about the bumps last year, prompting the response-time study.

He said the department sympathizes with the communities’ need for traffic enforcement, but added, “There must be another way.”

Some residents agree and have suggested a compromise: removing the bumps from major streets but keeping them on smaller ones where children are most likely to play. The idea will be discussed today during a meeting between the homeowners association and the fire department.

Others, however, fear that without the bumps, speeding in their neighborhood will get worse.

“Speed bumps slow emergency vehicles, but it also slows down other people,” said John Zarian, president of Coto de Caza’s homeowners association.

Other communities are trying to head off conflict by bringing fire departments into the traffic planning process.

In Los Angeles County, the Department of Public Works began consulting with fire personnel before installing speed bumps a few years back.

“Sometimes, the Fire Department would blankly deny them,” said Steve Smith, the department’s senior civil engineering assistant. “They were kind of denying more locations [that] we thought would benefit from the speed humps.”

Now, Smith said, the county is trying other traffic-calming tools less detrimental to fire response, such as a “neighborhood speed watch program” in which residents are trained to use radar guns and write down the license plate numbers of speeding cars.

In Santa Monica, one neighborhood’s concerns about cut-through traffic culminated with a pilot speed-bump program two years ago. But after objections from the Fire Department and some residents, the city is now considering other devices such as traffic chokers and circles.

“The preliminary word from firefighters is that they prefer [the alternatives to speed bumps]. They have to slow down, but they don’t have to hit the brakes, and it isn’t as hard on the equipment,” said Richard Bloom, former president of the Sunset Park Neighborhood Assn., which came up with the initial speed-bump solution.

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Slow Ride for Easy Street

A number of “traffic calming devices” are used to slow speeding cars using residential neighborhoods as shortcuts to major thoroughfares. Residents say the devices slow traffic. But fire officials say some of them--such as speed bumps, knuckles and traffic circles--increase emergency response times.

Cul-de-sacs: A through street can be converted into two cul-de-sacs

Textured Pavement

Dead End: Stops cars but allows pedestrian traffic

Forced Turn Barrier

Half Closure

Choker

Island

Traffic Circle

Median Barrier: Prevents cross traffic from going straight

Knuckles: Forces vehicles to make slower, sharper turns

Speed Bumps

Researched by BRADY MacDONALD / Los Angeles Times