“We are instituting a moratorium on speed humps in the city. Many of the neighborhoods which have had speed humps installed now want them removed. An evaluation of the speed humps will be conducted, and then we will determine future action. This community will not be getting one any time soon.” — NYC DOT Spokesperson Maria Smith to Neighbors in Highbridge, a Bronx civic group

Speed humps are working in neighborhoods across New York City. The first round of speed humps were installed with great care by the Traffic Calming Group at the city DOT, and it is unlikely that many were poorly located or designed. While they are not the answer to every street's speeding or traffic problem, the humps are flexible, and at $4,000 each, cheap traffic calming improvements. Contrary to what the DOT has asserted, it appears that public enthusiasm for speed humps keeps growing. The only complaint the 70 neighborhood and civic groups in the Neighborhood Streets Network have about the humps is that there are not enough of them, and that they don’t slow cars enough.

It is completely expected that some motorists will complain about the humps: after all their favorite streets to speed on are not as fun anymore. But it is very unlikely that as the DOT says “Many of the neighborhoods which have had speed humps installed now want them removed.” What is far more likely is that some turf conscious community boards which have wanted veto authority over DOT’s placement of the humps have continued to complain about them until DOT buckled. Community boards consisting of unelected appointees of City Councilmembers and Borough Presidents have often been deaf and blind to community concerns about speeding and traffic. The real force for safer and quieter streets are the neighborhood associations and civic groups who have taken the lead in pressuring their City Councilmembers and the DOT.

It is unfortunate that DOT chooses to kowtow to these know-nothing voices opposed to traffic calming while it ignores and resists community calls for more traffic calming and car free parks.