Municipal governments love speed bumps. They just love them. They’re a cheap way to respond to the citizenry. Somebody complains about traffic on their street? BAM! Install a speed bump, and look at that wonderful example of government working for you. How responsive. How fantastic. I’ma vote for that nice mayor who obviously cares about my needs.

I’m not a big fan of them. Oh, I’m all for traffic calming. Streets ought to be safe for everybody, and ought not to be thought of as mere funnels for high speed traffic. But as a story in today’s Post illustrates, speed bumps specifically have the curious effect of turning fast drivers into angry and aggressive drivers. That isn’t an improvement.

People drive at whatever speed they feel comfortable driving. Instead of building overly-wide racetracks designed for high speeds and then haphazardly plopping bumps along them whenever somebody complains, inducing a bunch of angry behavior in the process, how about we build narrow streets on which drivers naturally want to go slow. Don’t guilt drivers into going slowly, make them want to for their own good. Do this, not this. I guarantee the former is a safer, and slower, street.