Quinlan Street Speed Bumps Taken Out Due to 'Failed Experiment'

The reason why the speed bumps on Quinlan Street were taken out in 2009 was because they were an experiment that "failed," Yorktown Councilman Nick Bianco told Patch. 

"It's a liability issue," he said. "Everyone wants [the speed bumps] and when they come everyone wants them out."

At a recent town board meeting, Yorktown resident Jack Mota Jr. expressed his concerns of speeding cars in his neighborhood and asked town officials for a solution to the problem.

Bianco, who also lives in the area, said he didn't think speed bumps would be the solution. He said more police enforcement could help with speeding cars and he suggested that placing stop signs on the street might slow down the traffic.

"It was an experiment that failed," Bianco said of the speed bumps. "It didn't slow down traffic there."

Yorktown police Lt. Kevin Soravilla said the police department was not consulted about the placement or removal of the speed bumps at the time. In addition, the police department has not received any complaints from officers or residents about calls for service in relation to speed bumps on Quinlan Street, he said.

Some Yorktown-Somers Patch readers who commented to our first article said they were concerned about speeding vehicles not just on Quinlan Street, but in other parts of town, such as Granite Springs Road, Curry, Gomer and Broad streets.

"Quinlan is not the only one that needs some sort of traffic control," Jeanne Gilholm wrote. "I live on a small 'side' street that's not wide and not straight, but you take your life in your hands when you venture out on foot because of the cars speeding on it."

An active member of the Mohegan Lake Volunteer Ambulance Corps, who identified herself as Joan, wrote about her dislike of speed bumps.

"If you've ever been a patient, in pain, bumps etc. will exacerbate the problem," she wrote in a comment. "If you are waiting for an ambulance and we're forced to go slowly, it's a problem. With stop signs, we can look for other traffic and proceed, when safe, at a greater speed."

Here is what some of our readers wrote regarding speed bumps or speed humps on Quinlan Street:

James Bankhart: These humps, bumps and whatever you call them make it hard to plow the roads and when the plows hit them it damages the plows faster which raises the Highway Dept costs, and your taxes. If they raise the plows then people will complain about badly plowed roads.

April Buchwald: I don't know the difference between speed bumps and speed humps, but they are used in Pelham on residential streets, very effectively. I think the most effective solution to slow traffic is to put in a traffic light on a cross street and have it programmed to yellow from 6pm to 6am, and full working during the day. Also post signs..."children playing", "slow - residential area", and speed limit signs of 30 MPH. The combination of signage and bumps alone should work if the cost of a traffic ligt is too much.

Sharon Sutherland Ph.D.: Speed humps and bumps are two very different things. Speed bumps are designed to force a car to go extremely slow or risk damaging your vehicle. Speed humps, like the ones on Mohegan and London Avenues are designed to force you to travel at the speed limit. A car can safely travel over a speed hump at 30 miles per hour. If the humps are properly placed and installed they will simply force the driver to travel at the speed limit. As a former member of the Citizen's Advisory Board on Traffic I can attest to the fact that the placement and installation of the humps on Mohegan and London were done according to a traffic engineer. Stop signs do not slow traffic. In fact studies have shown that most people speed up between stop signs to make up for having to slow down at them. Or they just ignore them all together.

Bob Rohr: Rather than ruining the road surface, stronger Police enforcement or Speed Enforcement Cameras would be a better choice. 60 mph is insane. I am sure our Town Justices would take a dim view of 60 mph and deal with it harshly.

Francis T McVetty: Who put the stop sign 10 feet back from the intersection on Gomer Street? If I was Yorktown police officer, I would have my ticket book emptied every morning with all the people that roll through that stop sign. It is a wonder that there aren't more accidents there. 

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