Police: Speed Humps Should Be Last Resort

Police are working on setting the criteria on when speed humps should be installed, but they believe they should be a last resort.

Police officials issued a draft report on the issue during Tuesday's Township Committee meeting. They have been studying the issue since eight speed humps were installed in Millburn-Short Hills—four on Glen Avenue, two on Parkview Drive and two on Hobard Avenue.

Township Administrator Tim Gordon said the four on Glen Avenue are associated with the new bicycle path, but officials needed to purchase a minimum of eight humps. The other locations, especially on Parkview, were areas that have had histories of speeding problems.

Township officials, though, want to test how the new speed humps work for some time, including during a snow storm, before issuing any final determinations. But the plan is for the Township Committee to discuss the future for speed humps in Millburn-Short Hills on Jan. 15. Police Capt. James Miller said Tuesday night they are planning to refine the details of the report for then.

But police want to use speed humps as a last resort and only in cases when other, less dramatic traffic calming devices do not work, he said. If there is a request for speed humps, police will treat it as a complaint about speeding. They'll examine other ways to calm traffic first.

Preliminarily, the speed humps would be placed on municipal roadways, places where there are sidewalks or pedestrian paths, where the 85th percentile of speed on the road exceeds the speed limit by 10 miles per hour or more, the grade of the road is less than 5 percent, conditions are adequate to support the load and there is no community impact such as traffic pushed into another neighborhood.

They're also considering a flow chart where the police would bring a recommendation of speed humps to the Township Committee's Traffic Safety Committee, which would then pass the request to the township engineer. The engineer would do a study that would include an accident history and possibly public input. The Safety Committee would review the report and make a recommendation to the full Township Committee, which would then approve or deny the installation of speed humps.

Police also have a new radar traffic counter, which allows them to get hard data on traffic speed and counts, including at specific times of day. Police Sgt. David Bonney said the data can give police an idea on what they can do with enforcement. If there is a high number of cars speeding at specific times, they can have officers in the area at those times. If it's an overall problem, they will have to look to other measures.

"If we put an officer out there with radar, people see it and there will be a speed adjustment," he said. "We don't get accurate data. This will give us accurate data."

Township Committee members disagreed over how they were alerted to the installation of the new speed humps.

Robert Tillotson, a committee member, said he has never seen the township move so fast on doing something. When the bicycle path was approved, he said, he asked to know where and when the speed humps would be installed. He found out when he had to drive over them.

Daniel Baer, a committee member who also serves on the Safety Committee, said speed humps in the various locations had been discussed several times over four or five years and called it a thorough process. The full committee also approved the speed humps with the bicycle path and were aware of them at that time.

He also questioned the legality of the full committee approving speed humps and asked the township attorney to review it.

Mayor Sandra Haimoff said the Safety Committee should report back to the full committee either way about speed humps, just as any other committee reports back on their work. It's how the full committee knows what is happening.

Also, Bonney said the speed humps are not associated with the fatal accident on Parkview in October. The speed humps were already being processed at the time of the accident.