Berkeley Bump Bungle?
The residents of Berkeley Place between 7th and 8th Avenues in Park Slope are beside themselves over the appearance this week of four two brand-spankin’-new speed bumps, with eight bright “BUMP” signs to match. Didn’t know there was a speeding problem on that block? Either did the folks who live there. In fact, the person…
The residents of Berkeley Place between 7th and 8th Avenues in Park Slope are beside themselves over the appearance this week of four two brand-spankin’-new speed bumps, with eight bright “BUMP” signs to match. Didn’t know there was a speeding problem on that block? Either did the folks who live there. In fact, the person who sent in this photo said she had heard that the bumps were actually supposed to go on Lincoln Place to slow traffic outside the Berkeley Carroll School but that there was some kind of mix up at DOT. Whoops. Update: A reader is claiming that there was no bungle after all and that Berkeley was the rightful recipient of both bumps.
I read that speed bumps on narrow streets are actually a hazard and not a help. Some one doesn’t see it and if they are doing 40+ they will lose control of their car. Would you want to park on that street? Now put it in front of a school where their are no cars buffering the sidewalks and you have a bunch of kids waiting for a bus, maybe it’s covered by snow and someone like daveinBedStuy has already cut down your signs. It’s a list of scenarios but you don’t even need all of that to fall into place for disaster. You just need one person speeding in front of a school.
The speed humps are a mixed blessing. True they slow down much of the traffic, however, many times an empty truck hits them (quite loudly) in the middle of the night. Or a car doesn’t see it and goes over it fast and hits a parked car.
A much better idea (IMHO) and one which DOT has been slow to adopt are the filters on the green light. These filters somewhat block out the green signal at the light. You can’t tell that it is green until you are near the corner. From up the block at appears that the light is broken, so cars slow down until they see that it is green.
I think there’s some wild exaggeration that people do 80 mph on this street. That’s what I do on 95. 🙂
personally, if you’re one of those idiots who goes 80 mph down the street, I’m perfectly happy with you having no warning that the bump is coming up and losing your transmission. I’m pretty sure I’d enjoy watching, actually.
does that make me a bad person?
They’re gonna leave these, right? I mean, nothing wrong with them… unless you like to speed down the street.
Steve Austin,
Don’t have a problem withe the bumps but the signs are ugly and unnecessary. Would be much better for safety and aesthetics to paint diagonal stripes on the bumps themselves.
def the wrong street – it goes UP hill there…unreal…
new2hood, Brooklyn Heights has the green bike lane, yes. I would have much rather preferred just the two white lines, although if the green is proven more effective in actually preventing serious injury, I can’t argue against it.
What’s the big deal about speed bumps? Isn’t this a good thing? Won’t this discourage all the overflow traffic caused by drivers avoiding Union? BTW, folks definitely speed on that street as they try to catch the light @ 8th ave. I’ve seen many near misses on the corner.