Some residents of Girard Place recently contacted Patch to tell us that speed humps have made an appearance on Girard Place and Sommer Avenue between Valley Street and Osborne Terrace.

One resident told Patch that she didn't know why there were put up but that cars do speed down the street—which is on a steep incline that connects to Valley Street at the bottom.

Charlie Bibbins, Chair of the Maplewood Transportation Committee said he was not aware of the new speed humps on Sommer Avenue, "but I know that a few such bumps have been created lately normally the result of complaints from residents of speeding on their street."

Bibbins said that, normally, complaints are referred to the Township engineer who then visits and evaluates the sight with the Maplewood Police Department and makes recommendations to the Planning and Engineering (P&E) Department. The Department in turn passes on its recommendations to the Township Committee. The P&E consists of the the Township engineer, Township Administrator Joseph Manning and three members of the Township Committee.

Committeeman Jerry Ryan is a member of the P&E Department Committee. Ryan said, "This is part of a long running program of traffic calming."

A resident told Patch she liked the humps but, "We were out yesterday and they haven't had an effect! Cars are still flying right over them."

Patch took a ride to test the humps (that means that this author got in her minivan and drove around Sommer Avenue and Girard Place) and found that they are certainly not anywhere near as high as the infamous and now removed speed humps of Glen and Hobart avenues in Millburn. However, with four bright, new diamond-shaped speed hump sign in either direction on both streets (there are two humps on each street), plus new "Speed Limit 25 MPH" signs, the humps should have some positive effect.

Perhaps painting the humps would help?