JEDDAH, 29 August 2004 — Two lines of enormous white ceramic humps have appeared in Hera Street during the last few weeks. The size of large soup bowls and five centimeters high, they mark off the area that would normally be a service road separated from the main carriageway by a substantial concrete strip. They have caused mixed reactions among both drivers and shopkeepers.
The advantage of the new “Hera Humps” is that parking space for the shops along the popular commercial street can be accessed from any point along the road, avoiding the necessity of ascertaining where the appropriate break in the traditional strip will provide an opening.
The humps also keep traffic, which often travels at considerable speed on the one-way street, strictly out of the lane marked off by the humps. They drop the speed of vehicles crossing into the parking areas dramatically and so enhance the safety of pedestrians and slow moving vehicles looking for a parking place.
Crossing the humps at high speed hammers the suspension of cars, communicating very forcefully to the drivers that they are traveling too fast. “These things are very bad. They will ruin my car,” said Faisal Al-Shehri, who was visiting a cafe in the street. “Who is going to pay for that?”
A grinning David Williams commented, “Given the speed that most people drive here, these humps are a shrewd move. The vast majority of drivers do not obey traffic signs or even exhibit common courtesy to other drivers or most especially pedestrians. The more of these, the better.”
Ali Khan, a short-order chef in a fast food outlet, said that many customers complain about the humps. “It hasn’t really affected business much at all,” he said.
He had the impression that it was easier for his customers to park and that this could only be a good thing for him and other businesses.
The traffic flow on a busy Thursday night was certainly affected. There were few, if any, cars swerving at speed into the service lane to grab a parking space or drivers using it as a convenient overtaking lane.
Some drivers may have “the hump” at the new lane markers, but as a traffic-calming measure and a step toward a safer shopping environment, the “Hera Humps” seem so far to have had a positive effect on safety as well as ease of access.
