Traffic calming and effective street cross-sections

[tomh009]

I agree that narrowing lanes and roads are the best form of traffic calming. As you say, jamincan, speed bumps and humps can have the perverse outcome of encouraging motorists to accelerate and decelerate fast between them. And cars are not parked all of the time, so street parking, though it has plenty of benefits, can not alone be counted on for traffic calming.

This can work for new roads.  But for existing roads, speed humps (shallow humps really work better than sharp bumps, allowing cars to travel at a reasonable steady speed) and stop signs are significantly less expensive options -- and usually less contentious with the residents of the neighbourhood.