No to nine speed humps on Nani Kailua
I think that instead of quickly jumping to put nine speed humps on Nani Kailua Drive, the County of Hawaii needs to focus on the root of the problem — enforcing speed limits in residential areas, and stop falling back on speed humps as the preferred solution.
Our roads are vital to our movement, and far more scrutiny over humps is needed before we degrade additional roads in this manner.
Speed humps on Nani Kailua Drive will only divert traffic to the other side streets, slow down emergency response, cause more noise (stop and go over the humps) and will impact all boat and trailers owners, reduce property value, just to name a very few.
Our current County of Hawaii policy of placing humps on roads with grades up to 13 percent violates the guidelines of the Institute of Transportation Engineers. They indicate that humps should not be used on grades more than 8 percent, nor on primary emergency response routes. Our more aggressive installation of humps leaves the county open to legal challenges and lawsuits.
Instead, who wouldn’t want the entire County Council to get behind an islandwide program to increase speed enforcement in our residential neighborhoods, rather than relying on speed humps?
As citizens we pay for the police to enforce speeds. To say that we can’t is ridiculous. We have the ability to implement this type of program by prioritizing within our law enforcement locally, which does not require hiring more officers or does it take away from the officers daily zone coverage. This type of program has been proven to be extremely successful in reducing high-speed traffic in many neighborhoods throughout the mainland instead of installing humps.
If safety is truly the issue, which I hope it is, then another serious consideration is to raise the speed limit on Nani Kailua. It’s a common public misconception that speed limits reduce speed. Traffic studies clearly show that not to be the case. Unrealistically low speed limits can be more detrimental then higher ones. I brought this up at a recent Kona Traffic Safety Committee meeting and county officials agreed.
I personally use these roads to run. I see many neighbors doing the same. Nine speed humps is going to change that. I would much rather have a safe neighborhood with decent roads than one riddled with speed humps, that sees its property values deteriorate and nobody wants to live in anymore.
I hope the dialogue continues, that instead of a rash decision, due diligence and consideration of these alternatives is considered.
Let’s enforce our speed limits and keep our roads safe.
Margo Elliopoulos
Kailua-Kona