Vacca to community:slow down

Councilman Jimmy Vacca has a thing for dealing with humps.

No, not the irate human kind, but those traffic-slowing raised asphalt bumps on street officially known as speed humps.

In fact, he gets a lot of the traffic control devices for his constituents.

But it never seems to be enough. In fact after working with the city Department of Transportation to have eight speed humps approved for installation around the 13th Council District in the past year, he said that the amount of people who come to him and ask to have a speed hump installed on their block never seems to stop.

“I don’t publicize each and every speed bump that I was able to get, but I will tell you that I cannot get enough of them,” said Vacca. “There is not a block I know of where people have not requested a speed bump. The prevalence of speeding is beyond what we can imagine.”

Vacca’s office released a list of eight speed humps he was able to get approved and scheduled for installation since June 2012.

They are located at Kennelworth Place between Spencer Drive and Country Club Road; Harrington Avenue between East Tremont and Mayflower avenues; Wilcox Avenue between Philip and Randall avenues; Muliner Avenue at Pelham Parkway South and Lydig Avenue; Hobart Avenue between Roberts and Buhre avenues; E. 177th Street between Kearney and Meagher avenues; Griswold Avenue between Research and Outlook avenues; and Edison Avenue between Lafayette and Philip avenues.

Speed humps cannot be installed on bus routes or block driveways, but DOT is otherwise open to installing speed humps based on surveys they conduct, said Vacca.

But he has instances where people want two or three speed humps on the same block, he said.

“It speaks to how people are driving in this community,” said Vacca. “It speaks to all of us becoming part of the solution rather than part of the problem.”

Speeding is also a main concern not just on side-streets, but also on main thoroughfares such as East Tremont, Crosby, and Morris Park avenues, said Vacca.

“They have to slow down,” he said. “I don’t think it is possible to install speed humps on every block.”

What motorists need to realize is that the speed limit is usually 30-miles-per-hour on city streets, and they must be particularly aware of how fast they are driving, especially around schools and other ares where there may be children playing.

Near where one of the speed humps will be installed on Edison Avenue, neighbor Janice Garriga said that she was concerned about speeding on the block in the summertime when many children are out near the street playing.

“They speed like no tomorrow, including at night in the summetime when children are outside playing,” she said. “This has been going on for the past few years.”

Many kids have taken their basketball and other games off of the street because of the speeding, she said.

Patrick Rocchio can be reach via e-mail at procchio@cnglocal.com or by phone at (718) 742-3393