If you wade through the transcript of Ken Livingtone's London Assembly Question Time from last October (and what more congenial way to spend a Saturday morning) you will find a most startling admission. Of reducing speeding Livingstone, the King of Humps, says: "I think road humps are an appalling way of achieving this objective. Much the best way would be cameras." He adds that humps "do have a slight problem in terms of increasing emissions."
Brian Coleman, London Assembly member who heroically dehumped Barnet responded:
"I am delighted to hear that you accept that road humps in which TfL has pumped millions and millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money over the years have not achieved the reduction that they should have done in deaths and injuries. As you will know, the London Borough of Barnet has one of the fastest falling death and injury rates and yet we have removed road humps. I am just amazed that there are still people out there who defend road humps because, as you say, not only do they increase emissions but they are actually dangerous because drivers have a habit of slowing down and then putting their foot straight down on the accelerator until they get to the next road hump."
The trouble is that TfL, which Livingstone is in charge of, are still blackmailing Councils into putting down more humps or face missing out on funding for genuine improvements. The "consultation" exercises that follow still present the claim that humps save lives as fact - ignoring the evidence of the London Ambulance Service.
Cyclists particularly dislike humps. A point not lost on Boris Johnson.
