There is a proposal that could allow residents of Springfield, Massachusetts to take an initiative to deter speeding.
People fed up by cars racing up and down their quiet residential streets would be able to petition to have a speed hump installed under a proposed ordinance up for a first-step vote by the Springfield City Council.
The legislation was filed by City Councilor Mike Fenton, who has spent almost two years fine-tuning the ordinance in consultation with the city’s Director of Public Works, Chris Cignoli, public safety officials, and constituents.
“The intent is to help mitigate the substantial problem of speeding in the city, but also to create an ordinance that does not lead to the proliferation of speed humps all across the city at the same time,” Fenton said.
There is a high bar set in order to successfully apply to get a speed hump put on a local street where the speed limit is 25 miles-per-hour or less.
First, the application must be signed by two-thirds of the property owners or two-thirds of the registered voters who live within 300 feet of the exact location of the proposed speed hump. The petition also requires signatures from property owners or voters from two parallel streets.
“The purpose of this requirement is to insure we are not just moving speeding on one street to the street over,” Fenton said.
If the signature requirement is met, the proposal would then be reviewed by the Board of Public Works in consultation with the police, fire, and public works departments. The City Council would need to give final approval.
Fenton also included a provision for a 90-day trial period.
“There are impacts to residents and neighbors as a result of having speed humps that if not vetted thoroughly and properly have unintended consequences,” he said.
Cignoli said the speed humps will be installed so as not to interfere with snow plowing.
“Depending on the grade of the street, the cross slope of the street ,we may have (a speed hump) that is four-feet-wide, we may have something that is five-feet-wide, or even three-feet-wide, but that will be based on that location and traffic and driveways and that sort of thing,” Cignoli said.
There is no question speeding is a significant problem in Springfield, where the police department investigates more than 5,000 car crashes a year, many attributed to speeding or distracted driving.
