Bumping Into Trouble

When Richard L. Battin saw the white paint marks on Oxnard Street, he figured more speed humps would be installed. He was not quite right. The street will get “speed tables”--longer and less jarring to motorists than the traditional humps.

City crews will begin building five tables on Oxnard Street between Fallbrook and Woodlake avenues this week at a cost of about $12,500.

But Battin and other residents who live on nearby streets dislike the idea because in their opinion the humps don’t work, they’re a nuisance and they divert speeding cars to other residential streets.

He canvassed his neighborhood last month with copies of a letter he wrote to area Councilwoman Laura Chick outlining his arguments against the speed humps. His efforts highlight an ongoing debate throughout the city over how best to control speeding cars on residential streets.

The humps and the more recently introduced tables have grown increasingly popular since the city’s speed hump program began in 1994, officials say. There is a backlog of requests with 60 locations throughout the city waiting for humps next year, said David Roseman, a city transportation engineer. Installation of each hump costs between $1,500 and $2,000.

“We don’t want to restrict their usage unless we really have a reason to,” he said.

The repaving of a portion of Oxnard Street may have prompted the move to install speed humps there. Residents complain that speeding has gotten worse since the long stretch of straight road was repaved. Humps have already been installed between Manton and Woodlake avenues.

“They jar the car too much,” said Battin, 69, a retired engineer who lives on nearby Manton. “People go around the side of them all the time. It’s not safe.”

But the Los Angeles Department of Transportation and supporters of the anti-speed devices say they give residents some control over speeding motorists.

“The city allows you to take a little more charge to recapture your neighborhood,” Roseman said. “They are not designed to punish drivers. The average speed drops to 30 miles per hour.”

In a city survey conducted in November, officials found that the average speed on that portion of Oxnard Street, where the speed limit is 35 mph, was more than 41 mph and that the road carried 3,200 vehicles a day, Roseman said. The five tables will be placed there at about 400-foot intervals.

Not just any street can get humps or tables. Factors that help determine they are needed are a demonstrated speeding problem and only two lanes, according to the city.

In addition, the street cannot be too narrow or bumpy, or contain short curves. It has to have gutters to avoid water accumulation, and 75% of residents on both sides of the street must approve the humps.

The devices are not installed on emergency routes or next to hospitals, Roseman said. The Los Angeles Fire Department reviews only selected requests for humps or tables.

“If we think they may impede their access or slow them down, we will bring it to their attention,” Roseman said. “The top priority is safety.”

Besides humps and tables to combat speeding drivers, there are speed bumps, which are found in gated communities or parking lots. Because they are higher, the bumps are more of a problem for heavy fire trucks than humps or tables, officials said.

*

The Coto de Caza homeowners association in Orange County recently removed speed bumps from its gated community because fire officials said the devices were slowing down their reaction times.

Stephen N. Elias, a strategic planning consultant and resident of Oxnard Street since 1975, started the movement four years ago to get tables installed.

“Someone’s got to do it,” he said. “Everyone I met is thrilled someone is doing this.”

He said speeding has gotten worse over the years on Oxnard, which doesn’t have sidewalks. Some mailboxes are so close to the road that residents trying to get their mail have been brushed by passing vehicles.

At rush hour, it’s hard to back his car out of the driveway, Elias said.

Roland Barron, who requested the initial humps on Oxnard installed between Woodlake and Manton in May 1998, concedes they have been only moderately successful but supports the new tables anyway.

“They make the street safer,” said Barron, 66, who has lived on Oxnard Street for 34 years. “They’re speeding less. Others just ignore the bumps and hit them full speed anyway, or swerve to the other side.”

“It’s a great sport for some of those people to see how fast they can take them,” added Complaint Officer Randy Bowman of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Valley Traffic Division.

The city has built humps--which are just over 2 1/2 inches high and 12 feet long--at 200 locations throughout Los Angeles, most of them paid for with city money, Roseman said. Usually, each street gets about three humps. The City Council has set aside enough money to build humps at 45 or more locations, he said.

The city began placing tables in West Los Angeles last year and built its first Valley table on Louise Avenue in Encino between Rancho Street and Portico Place.

*

Oxnard Street will be the eighth location in Los Angeles to get tables, which are 22 feet long and have a flatter surface than the humps.

In general, streets used by fewer than 3,500 cars a day will get speed humps and those with more daily traffic will get tables, Roseman said.

One downside to humps and tables, Roseman concedes, is that people smacking into them can make a neighborhood noisier.

“The best thing would be to convince people to slow down,” Chick said.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Speed Table Construction

City crews will begin building five speed tables on Oxnard Street between Fallbrook and Woodlake avenues this week. The speed tables are similar to speed humps, but are longer and less jarring to drive over. These tables are designed to keep speeds down to 30 miles per hour.