Don't do anything until you've read the Baltimore County Department of Public Works' Traffic Calming PDF (CLICK HERE). You have to actually read it. No, seriously, read it. The PDF explains the point system by which the street in question is rated for the possibility of traffic calming measures. Page 5 of the PDF actually has a handy-dandy, step-by-step guide already there. You may not even need to read the rest of this blog post, because you've already been educated. By the way, nowhere in the DPW's guide is there any statement that you have to go through your homeowner's association to request an evaluation. ...So you've read the PDF and now you're back. Great job!
Step One is to request a speed study, in writing.
Email the DPW directly, and copy your County Council representative and any other pertinent people, such as your homeowner's association (you should at least let them know what you're doing so that they can support you). In your email, be sure to give the exact street(s) in question, and the reasons why you feel a speed study is necessary.
Now it's time to hurry up and wait. Phase I goes on behind the scenes while the DPW decides if your street meets the criteria for Phase II. Basically, your street will fail Phase I if it is a feeder road, less than 1000' long, dead-end or cul-de-sac, or outside the urban rural demarcation boundary. Phase I can take several months. I submitted my formal request in August, and I didn't make it out of Phase I until January. If you fail at Phase I, fear not, friend; you can still get passive traffic calming or initiate a special project with your county council representative. Phase II commences with the speed study. The DPW will probably give you a call when the technician is going to come out to lay the wires down on the road. While you are waiting on the speed study, you should try to qualify your neighbors' sentiment about active traffic calming measures like speed humps. These are the people who will have to sign for the petition anyway, so you need their buy-in. It will also help if you can recruit neighbors now who will help you gather petition signatures later. It's a big job (especially if you live on a road with lots of houses) and you should have help.
Step Two is understanding how the Speed Study is scored.
THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION IS REALLY IMPORTANT. You have got to know how the DPW tallies points before the study begins, or you're going to fail.
The DPW measures the average speed of all the cars over the 48 hour test and the total number of cars that pass during the highest single hour during the 48 hour test (Page 5):
The DPW scores the measurements from the speed study according to this table, on Page 8 of the PDF:
You have got to get a minimum score of 20 points to proceed out of Phase II.
Oh here's a few more important little nuggets of info for you from Page 9:
Friend, you need to have a Peak Hour Volume (PHV) of more than 100 in order to get active traffic control measures. This means that you have to get more than 100 cars to go over those wires during any single hour within the 48 hour test. Let's beat this dead horse a little more, you're going to have to get 1.6 cars per minute over those wires during at least one hour of the test. This is where social media comes in handy. Let your neighbors know that the wires are down and that they should be sure to use that road as often as possible during the 48 hour time period. You may even want to schedule an hour where people are specifically asked to use the road. Average speed of vehicles is measured also, but you should always follow the rules of the road, and do not do anything illegal or unsafe to "get your score up".
It's very easy to fail the speed study and very hard to pass. The DPW does this on purpose, you see. Installing too many traffic calming devices was a problem in the county in the past and it's very expensive to do. The County doesn't want to do it unless there is a real need and the community wants it.
AFTER the speed study is done, the DPW will tell you if your street qualifies for active traffic calming measures. If you qualify, congratulations! I bet you are simultaneously angry that people drive like maniacs and triumphant that you were validated by the speed study. Shake your fist with glee instead of anger at the next speeder: "YOUR TIME IS COMING, YOU YOUNG WHIPPERSNAPPER!" It is only after you qualify for Phase III that you should start collecting signatures, but the DPW guys will tell you all about it. They will draw up a scheme for the humps, they will give you the petition form that you need to get 75% of the homeowners on the affected street to sign. You'll have to get 100% of the homeowners who will have humps right in front of their house to agree by signing right on the paper plan that the DPW will give you. Here's what mine looked like:
There were several people who collected signatures for the Glen Keith and Edgewood Rd project (we needed 130 signatures!!!). It's hard work and not for the faint of heart. We stayed organized by using a Google Sheets file with a list of addresses that we could update in real time. This saved us from knocking on the same door twice. Lots of evenings were spent going door to door. It took about a year, from requesting the study to getting the humps down.
One final thought: People complain about the county refusing to work with them on speed humps. Usually it's these people that don't want to do the leg work. If I had known how much work it would be, would I still do it? I don't know. But I'm so glad that it's done and I don't have to say "Someone ought to do something about the speeding on my street."
- Karen Williams
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