Dear Sultan of the Asphalt: A neighbor passed around a petition a few years ago to put speed bumps on Sanford Drive. They were put in. Very shallow. Drivers cross them once and quit slowing down. I see other speed bumps around town that create the opposite effect. Go over too fast, and replace your vehicle. If the street folks start parsing the difference between humps and bumps, please deliver some thumps on my behalf. -- Devoted Follower
Dear Devoted: Yours is one of the earlier speed humps installed in the fair city of Little Rock. Since then, humps have become bumps. The difference? Your hump is about 3 inches high. A bump, on the other hand, is 4 inches high.
That doesn't seem like much, but a driver going over a speed bump at more than the signage-advised 15 mph will live, barely, to regret it. Because in addition to being higher, a hump is 12 feet wide. Why the change over the years? We're told it's because of big honkin' pickups with high clearances whose drivers laughed and sneered at the mere bumps.
Little Rock's Public Works Department has some written rules about speed humps.
A majority of the residents of the street where a hump is requested must be in support.
A traffic study will be done. It should consider alternative traffic control measures. (This does not include grounding the teenager down the street.)
Speed humps should be installed only on local two-lane residential streets with more than 500 and fewer than 1,500 vehicles a day. The speed limit should be posted at 30 mph or less.
No speed humps on streets with a significant volume of emergency, transit or long-wheel base vehicles.
Apologies to teenagers. One study of speeding from the National Highway and Transportation Safety Administration found that habitual speeders come from all demographic groups.
Dear Mahatma: Does the city of Little Rock have any radar-activated speed bumps? Or plans to install any? I've seen them in Mexico. -- Pat
Dear Pat: None in Little Rock, and no plans for installation. That's according to Bill Henry, the traffic engineering manager. He also did what we did -- looked online for information. He found what we found: no references fresher than 2006.
The essence of the device is that radar would clock oncoming vehicles. If a vehicle is traveling at a proper speed, the bump stays down. If a vehicle is hauling boo-tay, it pops up.
Henry makes two other observations. This would be a high-maintenance piece of equipment. And he hasn't heard of these devices through the Institute of Transportation Engineers, the organization that would develop guidelines for installation.
Alert! We were mistaken last week on something. Here's the fact, Jack: The limit on personalized license plates is seven characters and spaces. Not eight. Our flogging has been scheduled.
Arkansas vanity plate seen in Richardson, Texas: HIL2016. We are not making this up.
Mahatma@arkansasonline.com
Metro on 12/27/2014