There has been a lot of research about the speed bumps and their effects.
They are efficient: they cut by half the deaths and serious injuries, and that is why they are used extensively, although everybody hates them. However, in doing this, they have many negative side effects (the ‘cost’ of old speed bumps) that we are avoiding with our product.
If you are interested in in-depth information and scientific research about this, below is a comprehensive list of scientific studies and articles about environmental and other effects of the old speed bumps
1. Summary of the effects
2. Effects on pollution
3. Effects on fuel efficiency
4. Effects on noise
5. Effects on passengers
6. Effects on emergency response vehicles
7. Effects on time
8. Effects on property value
1. Summary of the effects
Effect on pollution
Because of the discomfort, most drivers usually almost stop before the speed bump and later accelerate to the previous speed. This is so called stop-start behavior responsible for substantial increase of pollution. Many studies found that passing over traditional speed bumps causes serious increase of pollution (more than 60% increase in NO2; almost 50% in PM pollution; almost 60% increase in CO).
So, on the one hand, traditional speed bumps are saving lives, but on the other hand, they are polluting the environment. This is the reason why, in some countries, authorities are thinking to take them away.
Effects on fuel efficiency
Each pass over a speed bump wastes between 5 and 10 ml of fuel (as a result of the stop-start effect). While this doesn’t seem like much, it adds up. A typical old speed bump wastes more than 8 tons of fuel each year. This translates to CO2 footprint of 20tons/year. All this fuel is burned only to make unnecessary pollution.
Effects on noise
Because of the braking and fast acceleration, and the hit of the vehicles going over old speed bumps, the noise in their surrounding is increased).
Effects on passengers
By their design, the speed bumps are uncomfortable for everybody at any speed, although only a minority of the drivers are over speeding (typically ~5%). This means that out of 100 drivers, we are unnecessarily punishing 95 of them. We believe that this is simply not fair.
Effects on emergency response vehicles
Every old speed bump on the way of the emergency vehicle slows the response team by several seconds. This may prove critical in some cases (if someone has a heart attack, a minute delay may mean a difference between life and death) and that is why most municipalities avoid installing speed bumps on emergency routes.
Effects on time
The purpose of speed bumps is to slow the vehicles, which they do quite well. However, because of the discomfort they cause, the speed bumps slow down vehicles too much and may cause congestion on more frequent roads. Even without the congestion, they unnecessarily delay each vehicle few seconds.
Effects on property value
An interesting study from US (International Journal of Housing Markets and Analysis) shows the effect on speed bumps on property value. Speed bumps are associated with reduced residential property values. Finally, survey results imply that older homeowners and homeowners with children may favor speed bumps but less than the disfavor of those who do not.
2. Effects on pollution
Because of the discomfort, most drivers usually almost stop before the speed bump and later accelerate...So, on the one hand, traditional speed bumps are saving lives, but on the other hand, they are polluting the environment. This is the reason why, in some countries, authorities are thinking to take them away.
Studies:
The effect of speed bumps and humps on the concentrations of CO, NO and NO2 in ambient air https://www.researchgate.net/publication/332128976_The_effect_of_speed_bumps_and_humps_on_the_concentrations_of_CO_NO_and_NO2_in_ambient_air
Quantifying the Effects of Traffic Calming on Emissions Using On-road Measurements (University of Leeds) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/33038847_Quantifying_the_Effects_of_Traffic_Calming_on_Emissions_Using_On-road_Measurements
Research into the impact of speed bumps on particulate matter air pollution https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0263224116307412
Identifying Speed Hump, a Traffic Calming Device, as a Hotspot for Environmental Contamination in Traffic-Affected Urban Roads https://www.researchgate.net/publication/319499441_Identifying_Speed_Hump_a_Traffic_Calming_Device_as_a_Hotspot_for_Environmental_Contamination_in_Traffic-Affected_Urban_Roads
U.K. Scientists: Speed Bumps Increase Pollution https://progrss.com/sustainability/20160617/uk-scientists-speed-bumps-increase-polution/
…a petrol car released 64% more Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) than in a similar street with speed cushions. It also produced 47% more Particulate Matter (PM) and nearly 60% more Carbon Monoxide (CO2).
Articles:
UK health body proposes redesign of speed bumps to cut air pollution https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/dec/01/nice-proposes-smooth-driving-measures-to-cut-pollution-and-save-lives
… Health officials said vehicles created more emissions when they were speeding up and slowing down, as on congested motorways.
Health group calls for radical speed bump redesign – Speed bumps linked to 25,000 deaths a year caused by pollution https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/industry/health-group-calls-radical-speed-bump-redesign
…The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), is calling for a redesign of the current speed bump, to ensure vehicles do not need to sharply decelerate and then accelerate, in order to cut air pollution in urban and residential areas.
How Do Speed Bumps Affect Pollution? https://www.pollutionsolutions-online.com/news/air-clean-up/16/breaking-news/how-do-speed-bumps-affect-pollution/41215
Speed bumps could disappear from UK roads as part of new plan to cut pollution http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/04/09/speed-bumps-could-disappear-uk-roads-part-new-plan-cut-pollution/
Speed bumps could be removed to cut traffic pollution and save lives http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/12/01/speed-bumps-could-removed-cut-traffic-pollution-save-lives/
20mph roads and CO2 emissions – Lower limits can increase fuel consumption and CO2 emissions http://www.theaa.com/public_affairs/news/20mph-roads-emissions.html
…Speed humps – popular with residents wanting to slow traffic in their street – pump up fuel consumption by 47% when installed on 30 mph roads. Compared to a 20 mph road, speed humps along a 30 mph road increase fuel consumption by 41%.
Government evidence on speed bumps and pollution questioned https://www.transport-network.co.uk/Govt-evidence-on-speed-bumps-and-pollution-questioned/14352
Tim Barlow, technical manager, air quality and emissions at TRL, told Transport Network: ‘TRL’s research has shown that traffic calming measures can cause an increase in harmful tail pipe emissions and CO2, with speed humps tending to have the largest increases.
‘However, at the same time it is important to remember that reducing speed saves lives and speed humps are often used in residential areas with low traffic flows. Such areas don’t normally have air quality problems, so speed humps do not significantly contribute to the total amount of harmful vehicle pollutants that are created.’
Mr Barlow added: ‘Looking forward, it is important to find ways to simultaneously manage traffic speed and improve air quality.
Speed Humps Accelerate Air Pollution https://www.radarsign.com/speed-humps-accelerate-air-pollution/
Mexico City plans to remove up to 30,000 speed bumps, or topes as they are called. This is part of a move to make traffic flow more efficiently and to improve air quality.
Crude, dangerous and bad for the environment: speed humps must go https://www.smh.com.au/opinion/crude-dangerous-and-bad-for-the-environment-speed-humps-must-go-20170815-gxwnvw.html
…While speed bumps save lives by slowing cars down on dangerous patches of the road, air pollution is deadly too.
Traffic Pollution – Are Speed Bumps Really to Blame? https://www.pollutionsolutions-online.com/news/air-clean-up/16/breaking-news/traffic-pollution-are-speed-bumps-really-to-blame/42869
…More recently, studies conducted by Imperial College London have found that NO2 emissions from diesel cars were 98% higher when driving over a speed bump than a speed cushion.
3. Effects on fuel efficiency
Each pass over a speed bump wastes between 5 and 10 ml of fuel…Economic-environmental analysis of traffic-calming devices https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S136192091500019X
…From the consumption results, a conservative rule can be established: for a private automobile the net fuel consumption is 10 ml. (for each pass over a speed bump).
Elaborate study for fuel consumption over speed bump – http://www.gofar.co/blog/gofar-blog-read-us/
…When you add up the trips with and without speed bumps then you can see that fuel use goes up 60.5% in this GOFAR test.
4. Effects on noise
Because of the braking and fast acceleration, and the hit of …Speed bumps impact on motor transport noise https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281191986_Speed_bumps_impact_on_motor_transport_noise
A theoretical overview of road hump effects on traffic noise in improving residential well-being https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352146517305252
5. Effects on passengers
By their design, the speed bumps are uncomfortable for everybody at any speed,…Speed bumps and your spine https://www.thejoint.com/arizona/peoria/park-west-48028/198860-speed-humps-your-spine
Speed bump–induced spinal column injury (The American Journal of Emergency Medicine) https://www.ajemjournal.com/article/S0735-6757(05)00119-1/fulltext
Impact of speed humps on vehicles and their occupants https://trl.co.uk/sites/default/files/TRL614%281%29.pdf
6. Effects on emergency response vehicles
Every old speed bump on the way of the emergency vehicle slows the response team by several seconds…Offset Speed Tables for Reduced Emergency Response Delay (ITE Technical Conference, March 2004, Irvine, California) https://nacto.org/docs/usdg/offset_speed_tables_for_reduced_emergency_response_delay_batson.pdf
They give us the hump – Recent figures show that road humps may be doing more harm than good… https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/mar/25/theygiveusthehump
7. Effects on time
The purpose of speed bumps is to slow the vehicles, which they do quite well. However, because of the discomfort they cause…Below is a typical graph of speed versus time when passing over an old speed bump.
Fig. 1. Typical speed of vehicles going over an old speed bump
Assumptions:
On a typical road with speed limit of 30 km/h where we put speed bump, drivers typically go with speed of 40 km/h before and after the speed bumps. On average, they slow down to 10 km/h, and accelerate back to 40 km/h after the speed bump. The assumed rate of the acceleration and braking is 2 m/s2.
If we put a Smart Bump on the same road, the drivers will also go with 40 km/h, but will slow down to 30 km/h and then go back to 40 km/h. As the slowing is not too big, the rate of the acceleration and braking in this case is 1 m/s2.
If we calculate the time it passes in both cases to go through the same distance, we will see that going over Smart Bump saves on average 2.1 seconds for every vehicle. This means that an average Smart Bump saves 1500 hours of your time every year.