Speedbump ‘wouldn’t slow down a smart car’

By Mark Squibb/September 16, 2021

When Bay Roberts Mayor Phillip Wood saw the Neck Road Extension speed bump on the September 14 agenda, he was a bit mystified at first, as he admitted this was an item that had already been addressed in a previous meeting.

“I thought this one was taken care of, but I will refer to the CAO,” said Wood. “So, what’s the situation there on Neck Road? Has the full speed bump been installed yet?”

“Uh, no, not really,” CAO Nigel Black replied with a slight chuckle. “We had the contractor go in, and put the speed bump in. But it’s quite small. So, it’s inadequate really.”

Councillor Silas Badcock put it another way.

“Sure, this wouldn’t even slow down a smart car,” said Badcock, who said residents on the street had also expressed their disappointment with the mini speedbump. “It’s very, very tiny,”

He noted that just further down the road are “two beautiful speedbumps,” and wondered if there was not a standard for speedbumps.

“The contractor generally knows what we want,” said Black. “In this case, I’m not sure why they put in the small speed bump.”

Black noted the tiny speed bumps had been installed at Goose Pond Road and Alder Place, and the town will request the unnamed contractor replace them with regular sized ones.

Acknowledging the tiny size, Black said it would be hard to even stub your toe against the bumps.

“I think we need to come up with a standardized side to let contractors know that when we request a speed bump, this is what we want,” suggested councillor Dean Franey.

Wood said he believed the company would be in the area tomorrow, but that he also had heard the same last week.

Setting aside size, Franey said, given the length of the road, he still feels that two speed bumps are required.

“One speed bump does slow down the traffic in that area, but once they get past it, they pick up speed,” said Franey. “

Deputy Mayor, and current mayor elect Walter Yetman said the motion at the last meeting was to install the first speed bump and adopt a ‘wait-and-see’ approach.

Still, Franey argued that from one end of Bay Roberts to the other, speed bumps are usually installed in pairs of two.

“They work better in pairs of two,” said Franey. “They don’t work as well as one. Cause that one will only slow you down right at that speedbump.”

Badcock suggested making a new motion to install not one, but two speedbumps. Wood and Black however, felt a certain amount of time should pass before amending the motion.

No vote was cast, though it was agreed the town will request the contractor to redo the speedbumps.