Schoolbus crash after New Hempstead Speedbumps installed
7 children and driver injured. What went wrong?
The aftermath of of a School bus crash on December 1, 2022:
This horrific crash occurred after the speed bumps were installed. What went wrong?
Some blame the speed bumps, and others blame the driver as the primary cause.
The speed bumps were installed in response to complaints of drivers driving at reported unsafe speeds. Was this a case of unintended consequences by that lead to the creation of more dangerous road conditions?
The speed bumps were allegedly installed without the speed studies as recommended by the NYSDOT.
NYSDOT recommends :
A speed study done to see if the threshold that 85th percentile was equal to or greater than 30mph1
No speed reducer shall be installed at a critical point in a roadway system
5 feet from any driveway or curb cut on a local street (additional clearance may be required for curb cuts utilized by trucks)
15 feet clearance from either side of a hydrant
And there be at least:
150 feet between the speed reducer and a stop controlled intersection
200 feet from a curve in the roadway
250 feet minimum spacing between reducers
2 feet from a manhole or utility cover on approach or 5 feet after the reducer
The above conditions were ignored either in part or in whole.
It is the NYSDOT recommendation that Emergency services (police, fire, ambulance, etc.); and other groups such as school districts, nearby hospitals or emergency medical centers, transit operators, road maintenance workers, snow plow operators, and waste collection agencies all be consulted prior to the instillation. These services were not communicated as far as the New Hempstead Village Meeting minutes indicated.
Most agencies perform another survey at this stage, and require a higher level of support from the public to continue with the implementation of speed humps. In order to gauge support, a mail-out questionnaire or survey can be conducted. Some agencies require the support of at least 67 percent of all residents before speed humps are installed. This ensures that a substantial majority of the affected people agrees with the project and there is a general acceptance of the final design plan.
This was not done prior to the the initial instillation.
In the rush to respond, was safety and prudent caution disregarded? Procedure established for our safety neglected? Had the NYSDOT recommendation been consulted, the speed bump would not have been as high, nor in such close proximity to the curvature of the road.
Speed humps are recommended for pedestrian safety and wheel chair access. The hump would act more like a cushion than that a speed bump, which may have lead to this accident. Currently the bump had been modified to a hump, i.e. a flattened bump as pictured below in Figure 1 and Figure 2.
However, as of 6/25/2023 the speed humps are still in contradiction and violation of the NYSDOT recommendations of:
200 feet from a curve in the roadway
No speed reducer shall be installed at a critical point, like this blind turn
5 feet from any driveway or curb cut on a local street
That means to see if over 15% were not obeying the traffic law. This is further defined by the authority they NYSDOT refers to when clarifying the 15%, which is "percentage of drivers traveling 10 mph or more over the speed limit."