Think of the negative aspects of the humps

I REFER to Renaldo Gouws’s letter in The Herald of March 14 regarding speed humps (“Residents have to apply for speed humps”).

Thank you for pointing out the process whereby speed humps come about, but you are treating the result and not the cause of speeding.

Home owners applying for speed humps to be installed should seriously consider the negative effects which result from the installation of speed humps.

Vehicles have to apply brakes, resulting in asbestos dust being released into the atmosphere and then once over the speed hump, they accelerate, releasing pollutant exhaust emission and wasting fuel, accompanied by noise.

We should also take into account the wear and tear on the vehicle and possible damage caused by the speed hump.

When the paint wears off the speed hump a motorist unfamiliar with the area may not see the speed hump and suffer damage.

Then consider the unnecessary delay caused to emergency vehicles.

A fully laden fire response vehicle has to slow down very much because of the heavy load.

Let us rather treat the cause by applying a lower speed limit in built-up suburban areas backed up by strict law enforcement.

A speed limit of 40km/h has been suggested, but in New Zealand the limit is 50km/h which works very well.

Main arterial roads could remain at their present speed limits of 60km/h or whatever applies to the road section.

Willy de Jong, Port Elizabeth