Speed bumps slow emergency vehicle responses - councillor

Life-saving minutes are being lost because of new speed bumps slowing emergency vehicles' response times, a Wellington councillor says.

The issue has been raised with councils throughout the country as they move to create more of what are being called "traffic calming" measures, including raised pedestrian crossings and cycleways.

In March, the Firefighters Union said fire vehicles were being damaged and response times to emergencies were being compromised by the proliferation of speed bumps on busy city roads.

The obstacles were slowing response times, and could literally mean the difference between life and death, some first responders said.

Wellington City Councillor Ray Chung said his friend, who died last week, lived just a couple of kilometres from Karori Fire Station, but the emergency vehicle which attended him had to slow to a virtual stop to get over three raised crossings before making it to the man's house.

He was unsure if his friend could have been saved if they had been able to reach him sooner, but that he was being told that kind of time difference could make all the difference in some situations.

"They said: 'It's so important that we get to them as soon as possible'," Chung told Checkpoint.

Anyone who had stopped breathing with first responders there had a chance of being resuscitated, but "if there's any time that passes, then they can't", he said.

Wellington City Council are responsible for the speed bumps, and Chung said council officers did consult with emergency services about the traffic calming measures and speed humps, as well as talking with bus services and the trucking sector.

Emergency services representatives had responded with recommendations about the height of the bumps, how many speed bumps there were, and where they were located.

But Chung was told none of those recommendations had been adopted.

"They said: 'They came out and talked to us, but they told us exactly what they wanted to do, and when we came out with recommendations they haven't done any of them'."

"They said there's far too many of these, they are damaging their vehicles, they are scraping the [vehicles'] oil sumps... they're being damaged as they cross these bumps."

Fire and Emergency (FENZ) told him a fully loaded fire truck could weigh 40 tonnes and had to virtually come to a stop to get over speed bumps, but if they were trying to get to a house on fire, that time could make a very big difference.

And first responders were not the only people unhappy with the speed humps and raised pedestrian crossings: "We're getting a lot of complaints about a lot of them," Chung said.

"I can't understand why we've got so many of them, and why we have them so close [together]."

A FENZ spokesperson told RNZ crews were encountering an increasing number of speed bumps and raised pedestrian crossings across Wellington.

While it supported improving road safety, "having to slow down for features designed to reduce speed will of course impact crews’ response times. 

"Features that make it difficult for cars to pull over allowing our trucks to safely pass also impact response times ... It is important our crews can arrive at emergency incidents as quickly as possible.

"We will continue to engage with the Wellington City Council on the challenges posed by proposed roading changes."

Chung said the bumps were expensive but could be removed, and a better choice to create safer roads would be to use rumble strips that produce vibrations and sound when people drove over them.

He said councillors had been due to discuss the issue at their next meeting, but it had been removed from the agenda, and he understands it will now be discussed by council's Regulatory Processes Committee. He intends to speak to it there: "I'll take any opportunity to discuss this."

Wellinton Free Ambulance, in a statement, said it did not want to enter a public debate about the matter.

"[We would] rather focus the community on the correct and appropriate response when they see an emergency vehicle travelling under lights and sirens across any road in our region, the statement said.

"We would remind all road users, regardless of road and situation to pull over quickly and safely to allow the vehicle to pass."

In statement - not referring to the specific incident - police said they took features of roads into account when picking routes.

"Police are generally supportive of measures that reduce risks to the community and road users including pedestrians," a spokesperson said.

"For questions on road design, and layout this is best directed to Council and Waka Kotahi."