Instead of installing speed bumps like we used to the city now digs into the asphalt. This doesn’t slow down the cars and makes every car that goes over it as loud a humanely possible.

It has been an absolute nightmare since my neighborhood got them and I was one of the idiots advocating for it.

FWIW I'm not okay with the rubber speed bumps. I prefer the asphalt humps as they don't break apart over time. The only real issue with them is to coordinate it with the snow plows

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…they plow your street? 😮 how’d you get them to do that?!

Would you rather live on a speedway or listen to every car bottom out while trying to sleep?

Gotta live on a Septa bus route

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Like 90% of Washington to Spring garden and the Delaware to the Schuykill should be 20mph or less.

People shouldn’t expect to be able to speed through a dense city center in a car.

I find it somewhat ironic that on my page the post right below this is Speed limits of 20 miles per hour have seemingly little impact on crashes, casualties and driver speed I didn't read it yet, just kinda funny.

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Can we apply for this on the JFK Expressway from 20th to 30th Street Station? People doing 60 on that stretch is commonplace enough, I’m thinking about laying some obstacles to blow out tires.

Just skimmed the article, seems like they just reduced the speed limit - and then, predictably, cars really didn't slow down on average.

Drivers will drive at the speed the road is designed for, not the speed printed on a sign. If your road goes from 40 MPH to 25 and nothing about the road changes, people are not going to slow down. As an example, Montgomery Ave does this out in the suburbs. I've driven on that road many, many times - people don't slow down when the speed limit drops through Bala Cynwyd, Narberth, and Ardmore. Why would they? Nothing about the road design makes it clear that you should!

There are things that can be done to actually slow cars down. You have to align incentives - people in cars don't give a shit about anyone outside of their car, but they do give a shit if their car gets scratched! So one way to get them to slow down is to narrow streets so that they have to be careful if they don't want to damage their vehicle.

I've seen a good implementation of traffic calming in Olean, NY (a small town just north of PA but pretty far west). They used to have the issue of cars flying unsafely down their main street. They replaced the signalled intersections on that street with roundabouts and turned two lanes in each direction into one. Now the traffic moves at a much slower pace but there isn't stop and go traffic either, so it isn't even that annoying to drivers! Plus, you don't have to turn left out of parking lots - turn right and go around the next circle!

I am not saying any of the above should be implemented in Philly - I am absolutely not qualified to make judgements about what should be implemented where. But I do know that better design is possible, and that changing speed limit signs does nothing unless you have cops that actually can and do enforce it sitting there all the time.

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That’s a stupid idea and you could get someone killed.

Well then the city needs to act before I get killed walking to and from work.

How you going to get killed on the sidewalk?

You do actually have to cross streets to get to 30th street station. Try it sometime.

I crossed 12 lanes to get to grade school. Here I am still.

Bully for you McWhitington

I live on North 29th Street, so the 20 mph speed limit is a no-go, but those curb bump-outs sound sweet as shit. Is the city saying that they only want to do those in full-out Slow Zones? It seems like they have much wider possibilities.

Sounds like they're working.

You'd think that, but any time OTIS tries to fix it all the boomers start loudly complaining that they're not only entitled to park wherever the fuck they want for free, but also it's thier God given right to drive 50 miles an hour down any street in Center City.

I've written A LOT about various speed reducing techniques, and it's smart that they're giving residents the chance to come up with their own ideas.

The problem? The only thing 90% of residents are going to suggest is the "We tried nothing and we're all out of ideas" solution: Speed Humps. Those are literally the LAST thing you should do after everything else.

What is everything else? What is better than Speed Humps?

1. RAISED INTERSECTIONS - These marvelous beasts are just continuous sidewalks! By raising it, cars have to slow down in order to cross them. Wanna run that stop sign? Fine, but you're going to slow the fuck down because physics!
2. SINGLE-LANE STREETS WITH EASEMENTS! - How many streets in Philadelphia are basically one-way streets but we have a line down the middle? When there's no line, drivers naturally drive towards the middle and then move more to their right when they see another car coming. Now imagine that as a single-lane on a non-busy street. Now imagine that same street with an easement on the sides so people can ride their bike in the street. There you go!
3. PARKING-PROTECTED BIKE LANES - These are AWESOME! By putting car parking right next to an active car lane, other cars slow down so they don't hit them. Next to that is a bike lane. The net effect? People are less afraid to ride their bikes so there are less cars on the road overall. Less cars mean less speeding. So many wins!
4. RANDOM SHIT STICKING OUT! - There's an actual name for this, but basically: Instead of the street being a straight-shot, you have things jutting out into the street likes trees. These can create "pinch points" where drivers slow down because they need to pay more attention than just driving straight.

And there you go, four ways to slow down traffic without the nightmare of speed humps!

Steal these ideas, promote them, and hopefully we could have raised intersections across all of Philadelphia instead of spending tons of cash creating, and maintaining, curb cuts that make it harder for people to get around than just keeping the street the same height as the sidewalk.

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Why the fuck does anyone need to cross the street between 20th and 30th on JFK?

(It’s a trick question - you don’t)

How do you get around the construction site on JFK between 23rd and the Schuykill?

There needs to be automatic speed cameras on Washington Ave, Lincoln Drive, Girard Ave, Germantown Ave, Frankford, and Broad St like there is on Rosevelt blvd.

We had a pair of trenches in our street from new construction tapping into the water main. Loud as fuck all day, and as an added bonus, it would shake the house - especially when an 18 wheeler or a bus went past, which wasn't uncommon because we're very close to a bus parking lot.

Unfortunately, I don't think any traffic calming technique is going to be effective in Philadelphia. There's a remarkable lack of self awareness by drivers in our city.

One of the ways I could alleviate the noise in our situation, since the trenches only crossed half the street, was to drag traffic cones into them. That worked for 48 hours max, before someone plowed right through the cones. Eventually enough people managed to drag them off under their car that I switched to a PGW folding plastic barrier. Usually good for a few days, and then wham - someone would just drive right through the damn thing.

And I can't make this rant without pointing to another post from today. Philly drivers just do not give a fuck.

I saw pinch points in England! My wife was driving, and was like, "What the fuck is this" while slowing down. Mission accomplished, lol

Bottom out

Speed limits don't work to control traffic speed, this is a well known problem. The only way to control speed is to design streets and roads that do it inherently through their design.

Such as being narrow, having speed bumps, and being single lanes.

You're the one that thinks you're going to get killed

Speed Cameras and Red Light Cameras aren't bad, but they should only be used as a last resort, not a first step. Focusing on enforcement works, but only for a while because soon you'll only write tickets instead of stopping people.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYnEdbRLmJM

Send them to Houston.

We have one of the most walkable/bikeable cities in America— purely because Philly is so old and that’s how cities used to be designed (for people).

The bones of Philly as an old city are a gift that other places need to spend billions to redevelop towards. Let’s not fuck it up anymore than it’s already been.

Why should cameras be a last resort? Seems like a much better option than increased enforcement by cops which means more encounters with police. PPD is already struggling with man power. Cameras also can’t discriminate - doesn’t matter if you’re in a Back the Blue F150 or a low rider, you speed you get a ticket. Increase the fine 100% each time someone offends, lose your license after 3 times and you’ll get rid of repeat offenders.

You need a letter of support from a councilperson? How do I even do that lol

Dude, did you even watch the video? It explains it better than I could.

I did, dude. It was about red light cameras. I said "automatic speed cameras like there is on Rosevelt Boulevard". They send a ticket when someone is going 11mph over the speed limit, not running a red light. I don't think the video you linked mentioned those at all. It seems to be working remarkably well on Rosevelt Boulevard. 93 percent fewer speeding violations, 50 percent fewer traffic deaths in just the first seven months of the program.

https://www.phila.gov/2022-08-16-speed-cameras-on-roosevelt-boulevard-are-saving-lives-philly-needs-the-program-to-continue-and-expand/