Speed humps could be ditched to cut pollution

Traffic calming measures could be removed after study shows they increase production of noxious gas

Speed humps could be removed from roads as part of plans to cut pollution. It came after motoring bodies urged ministers to tackle air quality by reducing traffic jams and not by stealth taxes such as the so-called “toxin tax”, which up to 10 million drivers of older diesel vehicles may have to pay in order to drive in urban areas.

SPEED humps could be removed from the nation’s roads as part of the Government’s plans to cut pollution.

Motoring organisations have urged ministers to tackle pollution by reduc- ing traffic jams and encouraging drivers to go at a steady speed rather than punishing them with stealth taxes.

Up to 10 million drivers of older diesel vehicles are expected to be told that they will have to pay fees of up to £20 per day to drive in some urban areas under the so-called “toxin tax”.

That has prompted fury because Labour introduced tax breaks for diesel cars in 2001 to encourage drivers to buy them.

It subsequently emerged that diesel vehicles produce four times more nitrogen dioxide and 22 times more par- ticulates than petrol cars. Labour MPs have since admitted that this policy was a huge mistake.

The Government has been forced to reconsider its proposals for improving air quality after the High Court ruled last year that its existing strategy did not meet legal requirements.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Department for Transport must present a joint new plan to the court on April 24.

New ideas will include advice to local councils on how to keep traffic flowing steadily. Research by Imperial College London has found that driving over speed humps in a diesel car produces 98 per cent more nitrogen dioxide than driving over road cushions.

Speed humps, which are steeper, force drivers to slow right down to avoid damaging their car, whereas cushions, which have a shallower slope, require less deceleration.

Other options include better sequencing of traffic lights to ensure that drivers will keep arriving at green lights rather than red ones if they drive within the speed limit.

The proposals are not expected to in- clude a scrappage scheme for older diesels. Whitehall sources have said that discussions are still taking place about the possibility of such a scheme, but it is unlikely to be addressed until the autumn budget at the earliest.

The AA wants the Government to pay drivers of older diesels a scrappage fee to encourage them to switch to newer, cleaner vehicles, arguing that pollution taxes “totally miss the point”.

Its president Edmund King said: “Government and local authorities need to deal with air quality issues in a sensitive and scientific manner rather than just demonising all diesels. We are encouraging Government to introduce a targeted scrappage scheme in urban areas to encourage the faster replacement of older buses, trucks, taxis and other gross polluting vehicles.”

Last week, Theresa May, the Prime Minister, said she was “very conscious” of the fact that there was a push towards diesel under Labour and said Government policies need to “take [that] into account”.

They are the bane of every motorist – the hundreds of thousands of speed bumps that have spread across the nation over the past 30 years or so. Harold Wilson’s Labour government experimented with “sleeping policemen”, but it was after legislation in the mid-1980s that local authorities began to use them in profusion. But while road safety charities like them, they also force cars to stop and start – worsening pollution and making it impossible for councils, especially in big cities, to meet targets for improving air quality. Now there are calls from motoring organisations for the humps to be dug up and replaced with other traffic-calming measures like “smiley face” speed indicators. Better that than the grumpy faces behind the steering wheel when confronted with miles of speed bumps.