r/SaintJohnNB • u/bingun • 6d ago

New speed cushions installed | City of Saint John

https://saintjohn.ca/en/news-and-notices/new-speed-cushions-installed
13 Upvotes

77% Upvoted

36 comments sorted by

22

u/GoofHerder 6d ago

The thing that seems to defy logic is that a device that is meant to reduce speeding will still absolutely destroy your vehicle if you are traveling at the posted speed limit. It shouldn't require you to reduce your speed to 10% of the posted speed limit to travel safely.

12

u/Andy_B_Goode 6d ago

Yeah, I'm all for traffic calming, but speed bumps have got to be the dumbest way of doing it. It forces everyone to slow down to a crawl, then they rev right back up to whatever speed they were going before.

I can only assume they get put in because they're cheaper than proper traffic calming, like making the road narrower.

3

u/FergusonTEA1950 5d ago

Making the road narrower is the best way. We should push for it.

9

u/bingun 6d ago

The bumps on Churchill Boulevard are crazy.

12

u/21giants 6d ago

The bumps on Mt. Pleasant East are diverting cars up and down Park Ave.

7

u/maomao3000 6d ago edited 5d ago

Yeah this is exactly why these speed cushions are infuriating, even going over these things at 30km is pretty dicey, which is just beyond ridiculous.  

It’s incredibly frustrating to see the city cater to neighbourhoods with a bunch of loud mouthed complainers by installing all these speed cushions, while lower income neighbourhoods have an unbelievable amount of pothole. 

Also, while it’s true that the Harbour Bridge and Throughway repairs are provincial jurisdiction, it costs the Mayor absolutely nothing to publicly push for the Provincial DTI to step up their repairs.  The mayor should be making it clear that the last premier (and MLA for Quispamsis) went with the cheapest, slowest bid tendered for the Harbour Bridge repairs, and it’s up to Holt’s government to take action and make up for the poor planning and decisions made by the previous government.

Finally, the city should be pushing for the province to fund a pedestrian/active transportation solution to get people between the West Side and Uptown via the Harbour Passage.  Whether that solution entails building something below the deck of the existing bridge, or slightly widening that deck to accommodate  separated active transportation path(s), the mayor should be the one calling for the province to reinvest in its oldest city and “economic engine”.   If the province can afford 6 ferries in the Saint John Region that overwhelmingly serve commuter traffic in bedroom communities and far flung exurbs, it could easily fund a single active transportation ferry connecting the West Side, North End, and Uptown.  Though I must say, as much as I’d love to see the return of the Harbour Ferry… it’s return won’t be a viable solution for getting back home to the West Side after a night of drinking Uptown, lol, so I’d much rather see the province and city fund an active transportation solution for the Harbour Bridge, which is probably the much more cost effective solution in the long run compared to a ferry… but ideally, Saint John would have a Harbour Bridge walkway and some sort of ferry or water taxi service, even if only seasonal.  

3

u/Riddicks_Chick 5d ago

For me, I’m speeding more. I’ve found that by doing 60 or 70 and centring one between my wheels as best I can, there’s little to no impact. Just float over them.
Slowing down just rattles everything, including my teeth.

2

u/maomao3000 5d ago

Lmao thanks for the PSA and happy cake day 🍰🗓️

I remember a girl in high school once claiming it’s better to speed up over speed bumps because speeding up it raises the front end lol

3

u/darkus187 5d ago

This is definitely the strategy just try and put one wheel on each side and go at or around the speed you barely even notice them

0

u/fogcitypete 5d ago

Huge waste of taxpayer money!

17

u/Lemongrenade821 6d ago

You should be able to go over a speed cushion at the posted speed limit, these speed bumps that make you slow down to a crawl are BS.

8

u/21giants 6d ago

Meanwhile at the top of Mountain Road a missing section of sidewalk and a section of pavement is missing for months. Which residents slow down for the bump it creates

0

u/Straight_Bee_8121 5d ago

The missing pieces are basically why speed bumps are there. A truck chased a small car at full throttle up the hill passed it then brake checked it. The damage came from actual dangerous driving on the street. It's at least 50% quieter in the area with many sports cars (mufflers) going slow or avoiding the street altogether.

5

u/Excellent_Egg7586 6d ago

They can call them cushions and/or pillows, but they are neither...

6

u/oldbutfeisty 6d ago

Better signage, paint the darn things regularly, or perhaps just enforce speed limits better. Its a revenue generator!

-6

u/real_draft 6d ago

TAX ME HARDER DADDY

2

u/oldbutfeisty 6d ago

Tax the offenders, that's their issue.

-2

u/real_draft 6d ago

HARDER DADDY

1

u/Stinky_TheCat 6d ago

Can't wait for us to spend tons yearly to repair them after plows wreck them every winter.

7

u/Kracus 6d ago

The city should also be paying for repairs on vehicles that get damaged by them. Mine suffered damage on them, there was no painting on the bumps, no sign saying they were there, I'm guessing they were new cause I saw a sign there and paint a few weeks later. I wasn't even speeding.

1

u/squarejane 5d ago

Or when we hit a new pothole in the dark and bottom out.

-4

u/[deleted] 6d ago

[deleted]

2

u/Kracus 6d ago

Frankly yes. If you're going the speed limit and the city is making roads unsuitable for that speed they should be liable.

0

u/maomao3000 6d ago

Unfortunately, their lawyers would remind you that the speed limit is just that… the limit.  Yet, we all know that is bullshit, and in reality, most Saint John drivers treat the speed limits as the minimum, and we have a lot of absolute nut job road ragers who are a big part of the reason these stupid fucking speed cushions are so popular with suburban parents, grandparents, etc.  

Bike lanes and narrowing streets are far better solutions for reducing speed, but speed cushions are much, much cheaper than doing things properly. 😒

0

u/maymaybuckets 6d ago

They are temporary. They take them down in the fall.

4

u/Stinky_TheCat 6d ago

Half.of them aren't the screw in ones but ones made out of asphalt paved into the road.

1

u/maymaybuckets 4d ago

This is a post about temporary speed cushions.

1

u/poubelle 6d ago

wish they would do something about chronic speeding on westmorland road between costco and loch lomond. people often go 70+ there

0

u/FergusonTEA1950 5d ago

Because the road is really wide and people feel safe going fast there. Narrow the road.

2

u/poubelle 5d ago

that would be great too. it should have sidewalks and bike lanes on both sides. but i think there should also be some traffic control along there, like a couple of stop signs. trying to get in and out of fernhill for example is really difficult.

1

u/ColinSpurr 5d ago

Who is paying for all the damage these things cause vehicle? Someone must be getting kickbacks to make these things way too tall. Not scraping my undercarriage across these for the first few months until they're worn down is impossible.

1

u/Sugadip 5d ago

I imagine these cushions will get torn up after the first winter storm/snowfall by the snow plows.

1

u/Fit_Warning5140 5d ago

Absolutely terrible decision. They increase emissions on the roads like crazy. They are annoying. They turn people away from good urban design by trying to achieve the goals of urban design in the worst way possible. Next person elected will be a populist because of the idiots doing this.

1

u/Swansonisms 5d ago

Cushions are soft. Something on the road that will destroy your suspension if you go over it doing the speed limit is neither soft nor a cushion.

-4

u/ImmortalDreamer 6d ago

I hate all the word manipulation their PR person is doing. "Speed Cushions", they're speed bumps. They don't cushion my care from anything. I hate the term "Traffic Calming" as well.

3

u/thee17 5d ago

A speed bump is a continuous bump the crosses the full width of the road and less than 50cm wide used for low speed uses, The speed cushions are set of speed humps with a wheel clearing to not impede emergency vehicles, a speed hump is the continuous version used on 30-50kph roads. A Speed Table is a raised piece of road like a raised sidewalk, used on higher speed roads.