Minister: New Flatts & Somerset Speed Bumps
Minister of Public Works Derrick Burgess held a press conference this morning [Apr.13] about the installation of speed bumps in Flatts and Somerset Villages. The Minister referenced Bermuda’s road fatality rate, and said, “Bermuda’s roads have become a dangerous place.”
Saying, “We all need to slow down – especially in our neighbourhoods and picturesque villages where pedestrians are at risk of being hit,” Minister Burgess said the residents of this Flatts and Somerset village asked for help to slow down traffic. Two speed bumps have been installed in Somerset Village [one by HSBC Bank of Bermuda and one by the Bank of Butterfield] and two have been installed in Flatts.
Minister Burgess’s full remarks follow below:
Good morning, and thank you for coming out to beautiful Flatts Village.
Bermuda’s roads have become a dangerous place.
Indeed – we experienced a tragic death just last week, our second for the year. In fact we have averaged almost a death a month for the last few years. Not to mention those critically injured whose lives are changed forever. This tragic toll on our roads is one of the highest per capita anywhere in the world.
We all need to slow down – especially in our neighbourhoods and picturesque villages where pedestrians are at risk of being hit. The residents of this village asked for help to slow down traffic. As did the residents of Somerset Village. Both villages suffered from vehicles passing through at high speeds. Everything from bikes to trucks. We listened to their concerns, we discussed solutions, and we acted.
Two speed bumps have been installed in Somerset Village – One by HSBC Bank of Bermuda and one by the Bank of Butterfield. And we have installed these two speed bumps in Flatts.
A bit of trivia for you – the first speed bumps were installed in 1906 in Chatam New Jersey – four decades before the Bermuda Public were allowed cars! They are now used all over the world and are known as sleeping policemen in the UK and judder bars in New Zealand.
However, our Highways Engineers have designed these bumps so they won’t judder your car – provided you go slowly enough. These are just the latest in a series of road improvements and traffic calming measures carried out throughout the Island.
I hope motorists will take heed, and slow down. Not just here in Flatts and Somerset, but everywhere on the Island.
We can’t afford to see the accidents and deaths on our roads continue.
Thank you.
Yes, 2 sets of speed bumps will change everythin! Thanks Derek. When they installed the first one in Flatts, it was not clearly signed and a girl hit it and was thrown off her bike. Jobe well done, when you pave a big hump in the road, you might want to let drivers know it is there.
its because there are no tourist here like there was before the PLP got into power. Remember the roads being full of bikes and you had to be extremily cautous as you might take out a tourist/ yourself too?
ya good job guys…..but atleast you all dress in the best clothes and drive tax free cars as well as travel whenever and where ever the clog tells you too.
hey, its just an observation by nobody important……a voter.
Am I the only one that thinks a majority of roadworks and other road side goings on are completely unnecessary and are just to give workers something to do? That or they work in hand with Watlington Water Works and BELCO for another reason to tear up the road and repave. Never fails that when there is something in progress, 2 of the 5 people on the site are actually doing something while the others watch.
Nothing to do today? How about we scrape off the bumplets we installed three months ago and put another huge speedbump there? And oh yeah, let’s do the bump in a day, but take two weeks to do the painting. Take your time. After that, instead of repaving roads that require it… let’s cut down trees unnecessarily. SMH.
The driving experience in Bermuda is getting ridiculous. Do we have the most speed bumps and rumble strips in the world? We are at an all-time low when it comes to the level of respect for the laws of the land and we are in desperate need of visionary leadership. Is there any reason that we should be looking outside of ourselves for that leadership? It seems to me that if everyone just did what they are supposed to do, the need for laws (and crazy speed-reducing creations) would be minimal!
At least they put the signs up for the speed bumps ahead of time. I hate speed bumps but if it protects the pedestrians, then its fine.
Good job. Tons of people were dying in Flatts. Glad they did it before someone did at least, but how about putting them where there are always accidents? Also, the one by the shop/on the corner = disaster!!! It slows down all the traffic for the stop sign at the bottom of the hill, the give way to Harrington Sound/up the hill. People either think they are being given way or try to squeeze through because people are almost stopped. Drivers on North Shore are giving way to people at the stop sign from the hill. It’s a mess. It’ll probably lead to an accident…one was SO close this morning!
I’m glad Derrick is now charged with doing something more closely aligned with his capabilities. Although, he still appears stretched…
Last one out…please turn off the lights……Oooops!!!! Thats been the plan for sometime. Don’t worry, my comment is realted too speed bumps. Think about it.
You have to drive over no less than 7 (seven) speed bumps to get through St George’s. That, in my humble opinion is over the top – totally ridiculous. Flatts now has two which I think most people can live with.
let me first say the speed bumbs are spread to far apart. They need one more speed bumb in the middle. Why i say that is that when they get over the first speed bumb they speed right down the middle until they get to the second one. So what sence does that make they are still speeding right through the middle so they need one more in the middle.
Thing that caught my eye was the fact if you look closely is that the PWD/Belco/private company vehicles went fastest across the ‘ant hill’ behind Minister Bumpkin…..wonder why…..
How about we use awake policeman instead of sleeping ones. Make the guilty pay instead of the innocent! surely we can turn a profit on a radar gun or speed camera.
a press conference to annouce THIS? are you for real?
OK how about we address the way the first speed bump was completely screwed up as someone mentioned above? and then how it had to be re-done. or how about how they put in the first rumble strips in flatts with the spot down the middle clear for bikes to go through. then they decided to change that. then they put in the ‘launch pad’ that was the screwed up speed bumps, then they completely removed the same rumbles strips mentioned before, and now they installed this! all this, in the space of a couple of months. why not grow a brain and do it right the first time instead of wasting all that time and money on several different ‘experiments’, none of which seem to be well planned.
what a complete waste of money to put in something that wasn’t well-thought out in the first place, then to put in the rumble strips only to remove them! how much money was wasted on this project?
got those numbers for us mr. minister? please bernews- can you ask the minister why so many different changes were made to this project and why what was so obvious to the motoring public was completely missed by whatever idiots did all this work?
It is just about two banks trying to boost their public relations image after:
HSBC – support for the unpopular SDO
BNTB – the laying off of 25 workers last week