End of the speed bump
They could be ripped up as they increase air pollution
TOWN halls will be told to destroy speed bumps if they increase air pollution, it emerged last night.
Environment Secretary Michael Gove said councils should act to ‘optimise traffic flow’ to bring down dangerous levels of nitrogen dioxide.
Mr Gove said yesterday that before considering the imposition of charges on diesel cars – dubbed ‘toxic taxes’ – they should consider changing road layouts, altering traffic light phasing and removing road humps.
Speed bumps were introduced in Britain in the 1970s. They can cause pollution because repeatedly slowing down and speeding up almost doubles the amount of harmful gases cars pump out.
However, road safety campaigners point out the bumps are there to slow cars down and save lives.
Many drivers complain about the proliferation of road humps, saying they wreck cars’ suspension, increase fuel use, and can even exacerbate bad backs.
Emergency services have also warned that the obstacles can slow down response times to police, ambulance and fire calls.
The speed hump option is part of the Government’s controversial ‘dirty diesel’ which included the ambition of banning the sale of diesel and petrol cars after 2040.
The strategy also said diesel drivers could be hit in the pocket with charges to use busy roads, as well as higher taxes on new diesel cars which could be introduced as soon as this autumn’s Budget.
The policy suggested that any future scrappage scheme for dirty cars would be targeted at those on low incomes – for fear of giving state money to the middleclasses who could afford a new car anyway.
Mr Gove’s plan to reduce concentrations of nitrogen dioxide, published yesterday, said councils could retro-fit polluting buses and other forms of public transport, encourage the use of electric vehicles by ensuring adequate charge points, and push the use of car-sharing and car clubs.
It also said town halls should consider ‘improving road layouts and junctions to optimise traffic flow, for example by considering removal of road humps’.
A Government source said: ‘We want councils to do all they can to avoid charges, and hope they will consider all the options available to them.’
The pledge was welcomed last night by Howard Cox, from pressure group FairFuel UK.
He said: ‘Our supporters will be thrilled speed bumps and pinch points will be driving aggravations of the past. But the faceless bureaucrats in our town halls will never be held accountable for their costly installation, being root causes of congestion and for causing increased local emissions in the first place.’
The AA warned of the disruption, saying: ‘It’s expensive to dig up speed humps and the question is whether the money might be better spent elsewhere.’
Kevin Clinton, head of road safety at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, said the policy could put people at risk. He said: ‘ Removing speed humps, which are proven to be an effective way of reducing road casualties, would increase risk to all road users, but especially to pedestrians, pedal cyclists and children, and are one of the key reasons why death and injury on our roads has fallen so substantially over the last few decades.’
Research by Imperial College London found that driving over speed bumps in a diesel car produces 98 per cent more nitrogen dioxide than driving over road cushions. Speed bumps, which are steeper and go across the whole road, force drivers to slow right down to avoid damaging their car, whereas cushions, norstrategy,
mally placed in groups of two or three across the road and have a far shallower slope, require less deceleration.
Last year the health watchdog NICE called for the redesign of speed bumps to ‘promote a smoother driving style’ and help keep emissions down.
Ministers were forced to draw up a clean air strategy after the High Court found the Government was breaking the law by allowing concentrations of nitrogen dioxide to build up in cities.
Motorists fear the plan could lead to the imposition of ‘toxic taxes’ which would penalise motorists who bought diesel cars in good faith after being encouraged by Labour.
The air pollution policy said local authorities would be able to impose levies on diesel drivers using the most congested routes, as well as banning them from using certain roads during peak hours.
And it suggested that future spending on improving air quality would be funded in part from higher taxes imposed on new diesel vehicles.
Mr Gove said yesterday that he hoped local authorities would exhaust other options, such as making buses cleaner and changing road layouts. But Charlie Elphicke, Tory MP and chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on fair fuel, said he was concerned councils would use the air pollution policy to land motorists with higher taxes.
He said: ‘Town halls should not use pollution as a smokescreen to fleece motorists with taxes.’
Levels of nitrogen dioxide, emitted mostly by diesel vehicles, have been above legal limits in almost 90 per cent of urban areas in the UK since 2010.
The toxic fumes are estimated to cause 23,500 early deaths a year and the problem was declared a public health emergency by a cross-party committee last year.