City removes rubber speed bumps installed by Caswell Hill residents to slow drivers down

The City of Saskatoon has removed unsanctioned rubber speed bumps installed by frustrated residents at a Caswell Hill crosswalk. 

"There are no warning signs and they are unmarked. They have been removed because they are a significant road hazard," Jay Magus, acting director of transportation, said in an emailed statement to CBC.

Caswell Hill resident Chelsea Dignean and her neighbours, tired of waiting for city hall to do something, took action and this week installed some rubber speed bumps at a crosswalk at Avenue D N. and 31st Street, so that children would have a safe route into Ashworth Holmes Park to enjoy the new playground there.

"It actually sounds like a racetrack outside our homes," said Dignean in an interview with CBC Radio's Saskatoon Morning.

"We are just terrified that we are going to see our own children or someone else's child get hit."

Magus said the city's transportation division has not heard any concerns raised by residents since the Caswell Hill Neighbourhood Traffic Review was completed in February 2015. In meetings the year previous, he said there were concerns expressed with Avenue D around Ashworth Holmes Park — so the city installed zebra crosswalks, median islands and curb extensions. 

After doing the review, the city had gone back and done a speed study, which showed speeds in the range of nearly 38 to 40 km/hr, compared to the posted speed limit of 50 km/hr, he said.  

"From our perspective, the speeds are quite low in that neighbourhood," said Magus. "So I guess we were a little surprised when we heard the news this morning about the folks putting in their own speed bumps."

Desperate measures 

Dignean said that the original intention of bolting those bumps down got some attention.

"The police were there in, like, 10 minutes."

A councillor for that area has reached out and asked for information, according to Dignean.

It's frustrating to the group, she said, that it took this drastic step to get some attention.  

"It's been six years," since they first started talking about traffic safety near the park, asking local politicians for help, Dignean said.

"Really it's kind of about our neighbourhood getting left out is how it seems, and with this new [playground] I can't stress enough how the traffic has increased."

Neighbourhood bias?

Dignean said that the best solution would be for the city to install large camel bumps at three significant crosswalks into the park, forcing drivers to slow down.

"People have to slow down considerably before they hit them and the people who don't are probably wishing they did," said Dignean.

Dignean sees bumps in other parts of the city helping keep children safe, and thinks Caswell Hill children deserve to be safe too. 

However, Magus said the city wasn't recommending a different course of action in this instance. The city's "best practice" guidelines typically do not involve installing speed bumps, since these are not friendly for cyclists, transit or for snow removal, and can have the spin-off effect of generating noise complaints, he said.