Emergency Response and Other Agency Concerns Session 6 Emergency Response and Other Agency Concerns SOP Chapter 7 Opposition from fire and emergency medical is the main obstacle to the growth of traffic calming in the U.S. It is the focus of Seminar Session 6 This session: summarizes fire-rescue and police concerns in select communities provides a case study of conflict resolution between fire-rescue and traffic management reviews results of emergency response studies to determine how much time is actually lost by fire-rescue services outlines strategies to address the legitimate concerns of fire-rescue services briefly refers to problems of other public agencies with traffic calming, including problems of snow clearance

Emergency Services' Positions Fire-Rescue Police Austin Bellevue Boulder escalated in opposition to traffic calming—agreed to two years of new hump installations in process of negotiating new response routes with limitations on measures permitted on each route—oppose humps and circles on slopes where emergency vehicles have trouble accelerating forced virtual moratorium on physical measures — experimenting with response-neutral measures in favor of humps—receptive to other measures as yet untested supportive generally— humps and other self-enforcing measures reduce manpower needs SOP Chapter 7 This slide and the next two summarize fire-rescue and police positions on traffic calming in selected communities Police are generally supportive, fire and emergency medical are generally not In a few places, fire officials have hardly reacted at all In others, fire officials have opposed traffic calming measures initially but, after some experience, are now neutral In many places, fire officials remain openly opposed

Emergency Services' Positions (continued) Fire-Rescue Police Gainesville Howard County Phoenix opposed to any measure that slows response—mollified if measures kept off collectors and arterials neutral as long as kept off primary response routes—lack of opposition may be due to use of 22' tables on collectors opposed to humps and diagonal diverters—cannot stop hump installations under neighborhood initiated process favor access restrictions to fight crime—opposed to measures requiring police enforcement in favor of humps and other self-enforcing measures to discourage speeding against any measure that increases workload, particularly turn restrictions See preceding slide

Emergency Services' Positions (continued) Fire-Rescue Police Portland Seattle West Palm Beach previously opposed humps and anything else that slowed response—neutral now that emergency response grid has been negotiated initially concerned about diverters and closures— neutral since these have been supplanted by other measures neutral-to-supportive due to safety benefits of traffic calming favor circles as “DUI catchers” favor more measures to discourage speeding and more closures to fight crime—latter now precluded by city policy See slide before last

Portland -- Source of Conflict Measures were installed at such a rate that no local street would be left untreated and Measures once limited to local streets were extended to higher-order streets that served as primary emergency response routes SOP Chapter 7 In the early years of the traffic calming program, Portland’s Bureau of Traffic Management worked well with the Fire Bureau However, by 1995, both prerequisites for outright opposition to traffic calming were met in Portland In early 1996, the city council, at the Fire Bureau’s request, imposed a partial moratorium on new speed humps and traffic circles until a new classification system of emergency routes could be devised Left is traffic circle used only on local streets Center is a 14’ hump used only on local streets Right is a 22’ speed table used on neighborhood collectors and local streets with transit service

Portland -- Conflict Resolution SOP Chapter 7 Portland’s emergency response “grid” took two years to negotiate Nearly all problem local streets are once again eligible for the full array of traffic calming measures Some neighborhood collectors are eligible again, others are not No funding has been provided for the next two years Ineligible Eligible Problem Local 5 775 Street Segments Problem Collector 100 300 Segments

Emergency Response Time Tests SOP Chapter 7 There is much misinformation regarding the impact of traffic calming measures on emergency response times This is the reason controlled response time tests have been run by several jurisdictions Regardless of the traffic calming measure or fire-rescue vehicle, the delay per slow point is nearly always under 10 seconds, quite different from the 30-second delay per hump suggested by critics Montgomery County’s test track for speed humps, plus results for humps and circles, are pictured here For results of other tests, see Table 7.3 in SOP report

Emergency Response Time Goals Original Response Time 3 minutes 6 seconds Response Time with Islands 3 minutes 30 seconds Expected Response Time with Humps 3 minutes 48 seconds Response Time Goal 5 minutes for 60% of emergency calls SOP Chapter 7 Emergency response test results can be used to assess traffic calming proposals Estimated response times with traffic calming measures in place can be compared to a community’s stated response time goals Boca Raton tested a traffic circle and median deflector islands on one street (upper right photo) The city is replacing the islands with 12’ speed humps (lower right photo) While the fire chief opposes the alternative, it appears to meet the emergency response goal of less than 5 minutes for 60 percent of emergency calls

Strategies that have been used to Address Fire-Rescue's Concerns #1 Avoidance of Emergency Response Routes #2 Avoidance of Emergency Response Facilities #3 Gradual Escalation of Traffic Calming Measures #4 Communication #5 Use of Measures that Accommodate Fire-Rescue Vehicles #6 Redesign of Traffic Calming Measures #7 Traffic Calming Innovations #8 Appeal for Citizen Support SOP Chapter 7 Many strategies have been used to address fire-rescue’s concerns about traffic calming Cooperative ones are preferred, as they represent a win-win for traffic management and fire-rescue Four of the strategies (#1, #3, #5, and #7) are illustrated in the following slides For the others, see the SOP report

Negotiation of Emergency Response Routes SOP Chapter 7 Traffic managers everywhere try to keep traffic calming measures off emergency response routes The challenge is: Streets most in need of traffic calming are often emergency response routes Any street may be conceived as an emergency response route by some station captain Emergency response routes should be negotiated with ample public input The ideal hierarchy of routes permits more traffic calming measures on secondary than primary response routes, and still more on tertiary response routes Portland’s successful process was described in previous slides Bellevue and Boulder are in the process of negotiating new emergency response routes Map shows the high density of emergency response routes in Boulder’s urban core

Gradual Escalation of Traffic Calming Measures SOP Chapter 7 Some traffic calming programs start with education and enforcement activities and resort to engineering (physical) measures only as a last resort The problem with this approach is that conventional education and enforcement activities have a poor track record of effectiveness (see SOP Chapter 5) Boulder is testing non-physical measures that may ultimately prove more effective than, say, neighborhood speed watch and radar speed trailers Upper left is a former speed table on an emergency route, removed and not to be replaced Center is an approach to Boulder’s first speed-sensitive traffic signal Right is a flyer for Boulder’s new photo-radar test

Redesign of Traffic Calming Measures SOP Chapter 7 According to the communities surveyed, fire-rescue’s preferences for traffic calming measures, from most to least acceptable are: narrowings (mainly because they are not terribly effective in reducing speeds) horizontal speed control measures (the more deflection, the less acceptable) vertical speed control measures (the more deflection, the less acceptable) full closures and diagonal diverters (wide half closures are okay) Even the least acceptable measures can be designed to better accommodate fire-rescue vehicles full closures and diagonal diverters can be traversable vertical speed control measures can have long flat tops horizontal speed control measures can be mountable Upper left is a diagonal diverter with removable bollards -- Boulder Center is a 22’ speed table favored by fire-rescue -- Gwinnett County Lower right is a traffic circle with a low lip at the fire department’s request -- Orlando, FL

Traffic Calming Innovations SOP Chapter 7 The ideal would be a traffic calming measure that slows or diverts other traffic without substantially impeding emergency response Toward that end, Austin is testing speed cushions (upper left), Portland has tested split humps (middle), and Coral Gables has radio-controlled gates (lower right) See SOP report for descriptions of speed cushions and split humps

Other Public Agencies Police Public Works Sanitation Transit Schools SOP Chapter 7 Any concerns of police, public works, sanitation or bus operators with traffic calming measures pale by comparison with concerns of fire-rescue services Trash collection, street sweeping, and/or street repaving may be somewhat complicated by the presence of traffic calming measures Based on interviews with featured communities, these issues are seldom significant

“DUI” Catcher SOP Chapter 7 As shown in slides 2-4 earlier in this session, police generally support traffic calming measures for crime prevention and/or traffic enforcement Pictured is a patrol car passing a Portland traffic circle Portland police refer to circles as “DUI catchers” due to the tendency of drunk drivers to sober up and head home after hitting the center islands

Approaches to Snow Clearance on Traffic Calmed Streets Familiarizing personnel with snowplow routes Marking traffic calming measures to let plow operators know exactly where they are Using appropriate equipment, such as rubber-tipped snowplow blades Applying salt and sand to residual snow Innovating in the geometric design of measures, such as the use in Canada of sinusoidal humps SOP Chapter 7 SOP report summarizes the experiences with snow clearance of six communities, including three snowbelt cities In these and other communities surveyed, humps, circles, chokers, and closures have not been found to: prevent snow clearance leave streets unsafe due to residual snow and ice damage snowplows suffer serious damage themselves But traffic calming measures may add to workload and expense of snow clearance