APR 24

The Grenada government has announced that some of the existing humps that were erected around the country to prevent excess speeding by motorists will be removed.

This was disclosed by Communications and Works Minister, Dr. Clarice Modeste-Curwen during a press conference Tuesday at the Ministerial Complex building in the Botanical Gardens at St. George's.

The female government minister said that her Ministry has established a new protocol for the designing and installation of speed humps and this will result in some of the existing humps on the nation's roads being removed.

Dr. Modeste-Curwen pointed out that there is a difference between speed humps and speed bumps. According to the protocol, speed humps should have a ramp up, a flat top, and a ramp down, while speed bumps are abrupt, usually about three inches high and one to three feet long as measured along the road.

Minister Modeste-Curwen indicated that speed humps are used as a traffic calming and should never be placed on or near to curves or on steep hills. She said that a decision was taken not to use speed bumps as opposed to humps for a number of reasons.

One of them being the slowing down of emergency vehicles such as the ambulance and fire trucks and the frequency in having to maintain them. The Communications and Works Minister noted that drivers usually dodge the humps which can result in accidents or cause serious damage to both the vehicle and the occupants.

Before the protocol was established, humps were placed at the discretion of the traffic department. Under the new protocol, requests for humps will have to be made in writing to the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Works.

The Ministry will in turn appoint a technical officer to review the merits of the request, investigate it and then make recommendation to the Ministry. According to the Protocol, humps will not been installed until and unless the appropriate warning signs are available for installation. The warning signs and hazard paint markings are to be installed on the same day that the hump is erected.