City seeks to smooth speed humps battle

It found speed lumps and rubberized speed humps -- or speed cushions. Speed lumps are created by adding long areas of asphalt with gaps spaced far enough apart to allow a fire truck to pass through. The lumps are used in Fremont. Speed cushions are made of recycled rubber and also allow for a fire truck's wheels to pass through the gaps. The speed cushions are used in Half Moon Bay.

Both are proving effective in other cities and the San Mateo Fire Department is on board with the new speed humps that allow its trucks to pass through without having to slow down.

Without the speed humps, residents will be left with one less option for slowing fast moving cars in their neighborhoods. With the humps, the fire department will take longer to respond to emergencies and spend more money repairing its vehicles.

San Mateo instituted speed humps as part of its traffic calming policy in 2001 despite concerns expressed by then Fire Chief Willie McDonald. It later placed seven speed humps in areas of the San Mateo/Glendale Village neighborhood. There are two speed humps on 39th Avenue, two on Orinda Drive, one on Curtiss Avenue, one on Santa Clara Way, one on Branson Avenue and three on Poinsettia Avenue.

Three more neighborhoods are requesting more than 21 additional speed humps. Claremont Street residents want three and the residents near 26th Avenue want 18 placed on nine streets. A request has also been submitted by residents near Edinburgh Avenue.

The San Mateo Fire Department recently conducted its own field test to prove response times are slower with speed humps. Firefighters drove both the smaller fire engines and larger tiller trucks down 39th Avenue with humps and 38th Avenue without humps.

The fire department tries to respond to 90 percent of its calls in under six minutes. The bumps could affect that response time.

The estimated delay was about 10 seconds per hump. It may seem like a small fraction of time, but fire officials argue every second counts when someone's life is at stake.

The commission meets 7:30 p.m. Wednesday Dec. 14 at City Hall, 330 W. 20th Ave., San Mateo.