The city added speed humps to my residential street several years ago and it has made a hugely positive impact on deterring speeding drivers. I am grateful for them.

I think, in practice, some of them have been ill-placed or maybe made a teeny bit too high but overall, it's a minor inconvenience.

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Yes, but I think there are better alternatives, including focusing on noise reduction.

Angry drivers are the problem, and until they face consequences for their actions nothing will change.

I strongly oppose them. They slow down fire trucks and other emergency vehicles.

I think every neighborhood benefits from speed bumps, but the ones on Main by the Whole Foods make me feel like I’m about to total my car by going over them at 5mph.

Generally, I think they've been somewhat effective, though I know they annoy a lot of drivers. I also notice that for the most dangerous vehicles (large pickups and SUVs with high front heights which make it more likely a pedestrian will be crushed under the wheels rather than falling onto the hood), the speed hump "solution" is fairly ineffective; these vehicles' widths tend to be enough to adequately clear the humps without slowing down much. So, we're effectively slowing the safest vehicles, but still failing to stop the most dangerous ones.

Ideally, we do things like raised crosswalks and planting trees along street edges and doing road diets and then start separating out pedestrian, cycling, and vehicle uses... but I won't hold my breath (I will raise it with the city councilors I know, though).

I live off of Messer and I find the the planters on the side of the road to be more enjoyable, as a driver, although sometimes irritating, as people think the road is too narrow when indeed, they have enough room.

Edit: The planters do make me scared to bike down Messer, although there are side streets that don't get as much traffic that I take instead.

what is your proposal then?

"Make Frogger a required class in school"

They have slowed cars down in our neighborhood for sure. Not everything but it’s part of the solution and bike lanes, and cameras and noise cameras and raised side walks etc etc… feels like lots of small things make the big difference, over time.

Do you notice much extra noise from people re-accelerating after each hump?

People absolutely do this, but it's not any noisier than when they were going 40+ on a residential side street.

Good to hear!

My house has been hit twice, and my neighbors house once by cars speeding on a curve and losing control of their vehicle. After they put the bumps on the curve a few years ago, never again

I can straddle the speed humps in my Golf and get through them without slowing down much or really feeling anything more than a slight raise. If a Golf can do it, pretty much any car can, it isn't just the oversized vehicles

If it was about pedestrian and community safety, they would have put them in the road that runs through chad brown… think about that one.

I've had largely the opposite experience, speed bumps on a larger parallel street has caused faster moving traffic on my street. Definitely not a one size fit all for the city.

Or not hear, as it were

I'd suggest changing the curbs in that area so that they're 90 degree angles. Doyle & N Main, Olney & N Main, etc.

When you have curved curbs, people go super fast when turning.

>"Make Frogger a required class in school"

Do you ever think before typing?

so, eliminate a traffic calming measure proven to lower average speeds by 18% and replace it with one in a city where we can barely get every corner to be wheelchair accessible. you hit the nail on the head champ.

Hah, touche

>so, eliminate a traffic calming measure proven to lower average speeds by 18% and replace it with one in a city where we can barely get every corner to be wheelchair accessible. you hit the nail on the head champ.

An unbelievable lack of common sense as well as an unfamiliarity with the area being discussed.

Do you geniuses understand that there's a fire house a block away? And you want to put in speed bumps??

Paolino has complained about them, and Paolino backed Smiley’s campaign. So unless they are overwhelmingly popular I don’t see the mayor jump starting this initiative (though I like them).

I completely wrecked my low clearance mini on that one, punched a hole in my oil pan and almost wrecked my transmission.

Some of them are massive and I personally hate them. But a lot of dipshits in Nissan Altimas carrying a 540 credit score don’t know how to drive and were endangering the rest of us, so I guess they’re better to have

The fire truck’s wheels are wide enough that the don’t hit them.

And ban monster gas guzzling trucks

The inordinate fear that those planters put in Rhode Island drivers is one of the most hilarious things about the west side. There’s always enough room and everyone panics when they pass one.

not true

"Speed bumps can cause a significant delay in the response times of emergency services. It will take emergency vehicles an additional 20 to 30 seconds to get through each speed bump. This time is crucial when dealing with life or death situations."

Well if my f-250 can go between thee we m I am sure they are just fine. They don’t seem to have a problem going down Dexter.

Only Reddit would be in favor of traffic cameras which are inherently racist. The speed bumps do nothing to slow down the truly reckless and most dangerous to the safety of our streets and residents

I'd love some installed on our street tbh.

Joe Paolino is poison. He’s so ridiculously out of touch with basic, best-practice, urban planning and yet he is constantly barking at people, and with influence. He needs to go on a sabbatical, visit other successful cities, shit—do a fellowship somewhere, and learn a thing or two. This is not 1991 and we don’t live in Dallas.

Put them everywhere all the time. There’s no downside to cars slowing down in a city.

That's why the ones in Providence have gaps. They're called speed "humps" or "cushions." The channels allow emergency vehicles to take them at speed.

Do you know what else delays the response times of emergency vehicles? Traffic created by private vehicles. Maybe we should ban them in order to decrease emergency response time?

God forbid somebody be holding up their phone to text at the same time. Normally, I'm game to play chicken but those people? shivers

Be that as it may, he is a major broker here, and has a sizable constituency - so I can see Smiley conceding in some areas like this.

He was Clinton’s ambassador to Malta so he gets out - of course at the time he remarked how proud he was to be at the site of where the allies met during WWII (that was Yalta).

I’m just lamenting that he’s a power broker here. Great he lived in Malta in the 90’s. His views on cities in the year 2023 make him look petty, out of touch, and willfully ignorant. You’re right that smiley needs to listen to him, but hopefully Smiley has the wisdom to take what Paolino says with a grain of salt.

Probably need to make how property values rise arguments to him.

Certainly he’s one who has benefitted enormously from the spending on the rivers and turning them from an asphalt expanse to a pedestrian friendly series of bridges.

OTOH, a tunnel under Kennedy plaza would likely have the same effect as the Rebello tunnel under Six corners in EP - and kill them.

His dad was wiser.🤷🏼‍♂️

Truth. He doesn’t get that bike lanes and the scooters actually make the city more desirable for young talent and start-up businesses and help his property values. But how on earth DOESN’T he get that? Kendall Square is one hour north. NYC is a short train ride away. Both have gone full blast with pedestrian infrastructure and have the most expensive real estate in the world…

Support. The amount of self-centered assholes I see absolutely flying down narrow side streets is appalling. They aren’t going to correct their behavior on their own anytime soon and I need to leave the apartment to go to work and shop etc. so this is probably the best solution.

Love this. It is almost always an Altima. See a lot of Accords and Camrys too. All full blackout tinted window douchebags.

Couldn't agree more. There soooo much room even for two SUVs. Also, when those went in the city promised to grind the corners down a little bit (so at least folks wouldn't pop theirs tires). Never happened.

Cameras? Bro...

Speed cameras yeah… you don’t have the right to go 90MPH in a neighborhood filled with schools. Besides, more cameras = fewer police stopping people for “suspicious” activity…

Shit fucked up My lambo

Yes, it is true. It's the entire point of putting in the ones that aren't a solid piece

>Yes, it is true. It's the entire point of putting in the ones that aren't a solid piece

The OP said "speed bumps". You're talking about something different.

>That's why the ones in Providence have gaps. They're called speed "humps" or "cushions." The channels allow emergency vehicles to take them at speed.

The OP said "speed bumps". You're talking about something different.

>Do you know what else delays the response times of emergency vehicles? Traffic created by private vehicles. Maybe we should ban them in order to decrease emergency response time?

^ Irrational thoughts

Um, so you're saying that there is a legitimate problem in Providence with people thinking that they have a right to go 90 mph through a neighborhood filled with schools?

Ah yes, the ole "more cameras = less police" argument. Because no police state ever had tons of cameras all over the place.

Also: he single handedly seems to have killed the Kennedy plaza pavilion project where a world class architect (Merge) was going to design a space for the dune brothers people on Kennedy plaza using federal money! Smiley killed it (“we aren’t doing anything in Kennedy plaza until Superman is finished”—dumb idea) because Paolino was so against it. Paolino doesn’t realize how much that would have helped his buildings’ value there by bringing more people to Kennedy plaza, because he’s a fool.

The only place I’ve seen solid speed bumps that go all the way across the road in Providence is in Elmwood, all of the new ones I’ve seen go up in the past few years (Knight St, Chalkstone, Dexter) are designed with breaks in them so they don’t slow emergency vehicles. Where else are you seeing the full speed bumps in the city?

I'll take a speed bump over a speed camera.

There is a problem in my neighborhood with people going 90MPH in residential areas yes.

Point taken about the police state. But I also favor ending the War on Drugs and LEOBOR and several other key criminal justice reforms. I think we can have eclectic points of view. In fact I think most people do and rarely fit into a neat little box. Thanks!

Hated them at first but now don’t mind them, as long as they’re not the ugly plastic ones