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Almost all of France’s 450,000 speed bumps are too high, causing damage to vehicles, injuries to drivers and bikers, and noise pollution for residents, several drivers’ associations claim.

One association has taken a case to France’s highest court, the Conseil d’Etat, to decide whether bumps with sloped sides, known as trapezoidals, must comply with a law governing height

(decree 94-447).

The case was heard on October 25 and focused on several of these bumps installed in the Var in the south.

The Conseil d'Etat has asked the Marseille administrative court to clarify the "legal framework" for speed bumps which has been claimed as a partial victory for the association.

If the association does go on to win, then all speed bumps will have to apply the decree 94-447 standard, which, at present, is far from the case.

Drivers’ association 40 millions d’automobilistes is among those that have long campaigned about the range of problems caused by non-standard, oversized speed bumps.

Regulations state that the traffic-calming measure should be no more than 10cm high.

Another association, the Ligue de Défense des Conducteurs, said it has counted almost 3,000 non-standard speed bumps in four years.

In the United States, the height can vary but the Institute of Transportation Engineers said 3.5 inches (just under 9cm) was commonly accepted as the maximum.

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In an extensive 2022 study, the Ligue de Défense des Conducteurs cited damage to the undersides and fronts of cars and vans as they were driven over high speed bumps, as well as two-wheeled

vehicles slipping on rubberised versions.

It included the results of its 2021 nationwide survey, which showed that almost half (47%) of 505 French bus drivers experienced pain in their backs, shoulders, arms and buttocks, caused by

high speed bumps.

The study also included various complaints about noise pollution from residents, who were fed up with hearing vehicles scraping over the speed bumps from the early morning until late at

night.

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The traffic-calming measures, known in French as dos d’âne (a donkey’s back) or ralentisseurs, first appeared during the 1980s.

Standardisation and regulations were quickly introduced during the following decade, following “abuses in the implementation of these systems”, says 40 millions d’automobilistes.

The association claims that some of those non-standard speed bumps remain in place today, while some of the newer ones that are installed are not always compliant with the regulations.

For Antonin Morelle, the president of driver association Pour une Mobilité Sereine et Durable, the solution to the continuing speed bumps problem is both simple and obvious.

“We are asking for the removal of all 450,000 speed humps in France, and for the roads to be redone as they were 30 years ago,” he told The Connexion.

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