Residents get say on speed humps

Residents bothered by speed humps outside their homes can apply to have them dug up under a radical new scheme.

A special fund is being launched to pay for their removal and replacement with "friendlier" traffic-calming schemes.

Hillingdon - pioneering the initiative - is the latest in a wave of borough authorities to join a London-wide assault on the speed hump. It has agreed in principle to fund the scheme from April, although a final decision will be made early next year.

Removal will be carried out on roads where residents complain they are disturbed by noise and vibration caused by vehicles driving over the humps. Local authorities usually rely on Transport for London to pay for road safety schemes or digging up speed humps, but Hillingdon's proposal would hasten the process.

Councillor Mike Heywood, cabinet member for planning and transport, said the council would balance requests for removal with the need to ensure road safety. "If the problems caused by the humps are greater than speeding cars, we will take them away," he said. "We will have to look at different means of slowing cars. We are going to put some

money into the capital budget so we can deal with problems before an accident happens."

Motoring groups welcomed the move. Richard Walker, chairman of Hillingdon Motorists' Forum, said: "Humps can kill more people than they save if ambulances can't get down the road fast enough."

The first street to have " sleeping policemen" removed will be Otterfield Road, Yiewsley. However, road safety campaigners are urging the council not to remove them where someone has been killed, or from roads near schools.

Keith Burrows, of Cowley, whose son David, 15, died in a local traffic accident, said: "If they are in areas where the majority of the street want them removed, so be it. But you must consider - if you take them away are you going to cause a more serious problem?"

An Evening Standard

survey of 15 London authorities last month showed more than half were ditching the humps, which are blamed for damaging cars and slowing 999 vehicles, as their primary solution to speeding. They were turning instead to such methods as chicanes and 20mph zones.

Barnet has ripped up more than 100 humps this year - with many more expected to follow - claiming they were slowing down ambulances on emergency calls and obstructing motorists unnecessarily. Mayor Ken Livingstone attacked the move as "dangerous" and threatened to withhold vital funds from the council.

But while some councils still insist the humps are the best answer, Enfield announced a review and said it would rip out those "not definitely needed". Westminster - which has around 500 - says it will now only install new humps in exceptional circumstances, preferring mini-roundabouts and chicanes which it says slow down motorists but don't hinder ambulances.