News
Residential neighbourhoods made safer with the construction of speed humps
Speed Hump installed on Jade Drive, West Bay.
Since the Public Works Roads Division kicked
off their traffic-calming programme late last year, more than
34 speed control humps have been installed in areas around schools
and on streets in residential neighbourhoods."Speed humps,
which can be installed individually or in groups, are traffic-calming
tools engineered to slow cars to a specific speed," explains
Transportation Engineer Edward Howard.
He adds that the humps that have been introduced are designed
to keep speeds at 15 mph on residential streets but that others
can be designed to allow comfortable travel speeds of between
20 and 25 mph where desirable.
Mr. Howard stresses that the department
is not advocating that residential streets are play areas but
says that such neighbourhoods typically feature young children
walking or cycling to or from neighbouring homes, parks or playgrounds,
as well as walkers, joggers or strolling parents with their infants.
"Parents in residential neighbourhoods have been demanding
protection from reckless drivers on their streets. Motorists need
to be more cognisant of their speeds and driving habits on resi-dential
roads," he says.
The department receives occasional complaints about public buses,
taxis, delivery trucks and construction-related vehicles speeding
on residential streets but the problem is not limited to these
groups. "Drivers are cutting through residential neighbourhoods
to avoid traffic build-up on main roads but most alarming is that
young drivers are using certain straight sections of residential
streets as drag strips," continues Mr Howard.
A speed hump is only one type of traffic-calming device. The department also plans to implement alternative forms of calming devices on future residential streets. These include mini roundabouts, chokers which block travel in one direction on a otherwise two-way street and rough sections of road sometimes made of cobblestones that are called rumble strips.
Residents who see excessive speeding and/or
cut-through traffic on their streets are urged to collectively
consult their Royal Cayman Islands Police community officer to
discuss their concerns. If police intervention is not effective
then Public Works will evaluate the problem and consider installing
a traffic-calming device.
For more information on PWD's traffic-calming program please contact
the department at 244-4824 or to find out who your community officer
is call the RCIP's Community Relations Department at 244-2934.