John MacDonald: All aboard the speed hump bandwagon

You can tell council elections are coming up, because that’s the only reason the Christchurch City Council is going to start using high friction road surfaces at pedestrian crossings, instead of speed humps.    

Even though it knows that speed humps are safer. Even though it knows that it won’t slow down traffic. But you’ve got to keep people sweet when there’s an election coming up.   

They’re starting with a pedesttian crossing Halswell, with the local councillor saying they’re doing it so that people don’t get brassed off.  

Andrei Moore says: "We are putting safe infrastructure in without pissing everyone off.”  

And there’s your evidence that this isn’t being done for safety. It’s being done to try and calm down all the whingers ahead of October's election.  

Talk about shallow.  

I know when these speed humps things started appearing, twe all thought “what the hell are these things all about?” And, since then, it's become incredible fashionable to slag them off.   

But this is the problem when you get a bunch of people sitting around a council table all thinking they’re road safety experts when the only thing they're expert in is pandering to voters.  

Apparently, the plus side of these high friction surfaces is that vehicles are less likely to skid, but they do nothing to slow traffic down.  When some muppet is screaming up to a pedestrian crossing and has to slam on the brakes, they’ll be at less risk of skidding.   

At least with the speed humps, even the muppets are forced to slow down – that’s not going to happen with your high friction surface, is it?  

Cost is another thing in favour of the high friction surfaces, as opposed to the sped humps. A report I’ve seen says installing a speed hump —including the aspahalt, the road marking, and the signage— costs somewhere between $30,000 and $55,000.  

Whereas, the anti-skid, high friction road surface costs between $25,000 and $35,000. The fly in the ointment there though is that this special surface costs more to maintain than your speed hump.  

But are these speed humps really that much of a problem? What’s so bad about something that forces drivers to slow down – especially when they’re approaching a pedestrian crossing?   

There’s nothing wrong with that.  

And, if you are totally honest with yourself, do speed humps really have that much of a negative impact on your life?  

Or do you think you might have fallen into the trap and followed the crowd in your opposition to speed humps? Because I reckon that, in the grand scheme of things, they aren’t a problem at all. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Canterbury Mornings podcast with John McDonald
from News Talks AB.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
How would you feel or would you would you mind
if I opened the can of wombs? Okay, now it's Friday,
but this is one can of wombs that needs to
be opened. Speed humps or more to the point, this
crazy decision by the Christchurch City Council to start using

(00:36):
high friction road surfaces at pedestrian crossings instead of speed humps.
And you can tell the elections are coming up, ah,
the council elections, because that's the only reason they're doing this,
even though they know speed humps are safer, even though
they know that it won't slow traffic down. But you know,

(00:57):
you've got to keep purple sweet when there's an election
coming up. They're starting with a pedestrian crossing in Hallsville.
And why they're doing that. Why are they doing that? Well,
according to the Council of a Hallswell, they're saying or
they're doing it so people don't get brassed off smell

(01:19):
an election. Here's what he's saying today. I'll quote, I'll
quote him verbatim. Andre Moore is saying today, quote, we
are putting safe infrastructure in without pissing everyone off. And
there's your evidence, there's your evidence that this hasn't been
done for safety. It's been done to try and calm

(01:41):
down all the wines about the speed humps and get
their vote come of Tiber's election. I mean talk about shallow,
talk about transparent. Now, look I transparent in terms you
can see right through them now. I know when these
speed humps started appearing that we all thought, you know,

(02:01):
what the hell, what the hell is this all about?
What that was going on there? And since then it's
become incredibly fashionable to slag them off. Aim. It's like
road cones. People winge about road cones, but I don't
they think they even think about what will why they're
winging about it. Same as speed humps. People people whinge
about the speed humps, But are there really that much

(02:24):
of a problem. I don't think so. But you know,
this is this is what you get when you have
a bunch of people sitting around the council table all
thinking they're road safety experts, when the only thing they're
expert in is pandering to voters and trying to get
re elected. They are they they're they're well classed at that. Now,
Apparently the plus side of these high friction surfaces is

(02:45):
that vehicles are less likely to skid. So it's basically
it's a road and I will I'm not claiming to
be an expert either here, but it's like probably like
having a bit of sandpaper on the road. And so
the plus side is that the high friction surface means
you are less likely to go into a skid if
you have to stop suddenly. They do nothing to slow

(03:05):
traffic down, but you know when some muppets screaming up
to a pedestrian crossing and has to slam on the brakes,
there'll be at less risk of skidding. And that's the
big mistake the council's making here. At least with the
speed humps, even the muppets are forced to slow down,
that's not going to happen with your high friction surfaces. Apparently,

(03:26):
cost is another another thing in favor of the high
friction surfaces as opposed to the speed humps. The report
I've seen this morning says installing a speed hump including
the ausphelt the roadmark in the sideage you look at
it somewhere between thirty thousand and fifty five thousand, whereas
the anti skid high friction road surface that costs between
twenty five thousand and thirty five thousand fly in the

(03:48):
ointment there though, might be cheaper than the speed hump,
But the fly on the ointment is that the special
surface that costs more to maintain than your average speed hump.
This is the question I've got. Are these speed humps
really that much of a problem? I mean, what is
so bad about something that forced as drivers to slow down,
especially when they're approaching a pedestrian crossing? Why else there's

(04:11):
nothing wrong with that? And if you're totally honest with yourself,
and I'm being totally honest, do speed humps really do
they really have that much of a negative impact on
your life? Or do you think you might have fallen
into the trap and followed the crowd and opposing speed
humps or slagging off the speed humps because I reckon

(04:34):
in the grand scheme of things, speed humps are not
a problem at all. And now we've got used to them,
or now that we've got used to them, what are
these councilors trying to fix? What's the problem they're trying
to fix other than holding on to their jobs when
election time comes around later in the year.

Speaker 1 (04:53):
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