The humps and bumps making Hamilton streets and intersections safer

Tuesday, 6 June 2023

For some people they’re a godsend. For others, a nuisance. Whichever way you look at them, raised platforms are becoming more common on Hamilton streets and intersections. So what’s the big idea behind them? Jo Lines-Mackenzie reports.

Humps and bumps are popping up at large intersections and outside schools around the city to the delight of some and annoyance of others.

And as far as the city council is concerned, the gains in safety and accessibility far outweigh the pain inflicted on motorists.

Pukete School principal Gavin Oliver is on the same page.

He’s pleased to have one installed outside his school gates.

Before the platform was installed, it’s lucky no-one was hit at the red light crossing, he said.

“They put the lights in initially because a lot of parents park across the road at the shopping area, so lots of kids crossed the road after school.”

Oliver said it was surprising how many drivers would run the red light.

Initially, he thought motorists may not have seen them, but now the platform is there, they slow down and always stop.

He said drivers can use it as a bit of a “rat run” to avoid Wairere Dr, so traffic can be quite busy but also variable.

It’s the kind of positive shift that Hamilton City Council transportation unit manager Roby Denton would expect.

The platforms generally add a five-second delay to a person’s journey, but the price is worth it, she said.

“It recognises that human beings are fragile things, we are not designed to stop quickly, so the trauma we suffer from any crashes can be serious, life-threatening.”

A person hit by a car at 50kph only has a 10% chance of survival. If that car is going 30kph, their chance of surviving increases to 90%.

“You shouldn’t die because you are using the road network. We should be able to get out there and get to where we need to go safely.”

Denton said they are finding traffic flow has improved where platforms have been installed due to all motorists being on equal footing and having the same access.

“One we found really successful was at Grey/Te Aroha and the traffic was being dominated by one direction where people were able to go through it with a bit more speed, and everyone else hung back to let them through.

“With the raised platforms in place everyone’s speed as they enter that intersection is the same, and it actually flows better.”

She asked the grumbling types to consider what they would do with the extra five seconds it took to navigate the platform.

“When we have crashes out on the network they cause all sorts of delays and chaos and other sorts of problems for the network so if we are reducing those sorts of problems then we are actually saving a lot of time.”

The platforms also help parents who are worried about their children walking to and from school, she said, so there’s less traffic outside the school gate.

It also helps with people of all ages being able to cross roads.

“If you are quick and nimble and young, that is great to hop and skip across the road between the cars, but if you are little older, or slower, or you’ve got a pushchair, or you’ve got some sort of mobility issues, often those roads create huge barriers of where those people can go, and so they were forced to use a car.”

The model originated in Sweden – labelled a safe system approach – and has been around for a long time.

They are a lot different from the old-school, abrupt speed bumps.

“With the safety platforms they do have a flat top on them, so they do operate very differently. We do a lot of work looking at each situation and altering the angle of the approach onto it and the departure out of it.

There isn’t a cookie cutter approach to the platforms - the city council considers who will be using them whether it be buses, cars and trucks.

“Each intersection and each ramp is designed on its own merits to cater for that. So if you have a raised platform where you’re not going to have pedestrians using them and crossing the road, then we can allow a slightly higher speed than other locations. And we can manage all of that with the approach and departure angles.”

Denton said they work with emergency services who are some of the key stakeholders.

“That is where the approach and departure angles can have a big impact on getting their trucks over them. That sort of design is also really useful for the buses.”

While they are individually designed, Denton said the teams are efficient in installing them and do a lot of the work at night to minimise the impact on the network.

They also should have longevity because they’re made with asphalt, whereas Auckland has used a lot of concrete platforms.