This blog post will cover the best practice for the installation of speed bumps, and general safety and regulations.

Speed bumps are often overlooked but they are essential to ensuring people’s safety. When installed correctly and in the appropriate environment, they have been proven to reduce the speed of vehicles. This is especially useful in areas where there are pedestrians or equipment that is at risk of being damaged.

Why do we need speed bumps?

According to HSE, The fatal injury rate in transportation and storage is around twice the All Industry rate.

There were 10 fatal injuries in 2020/21 in transportation and storage, in comparison with the annual average number of 13 fatalities for 2016/17-2020/21. 37% of deaths over the same five year period were classified as struck by a moving vehicle.

Speed bumps allow you to prevent these accidents by slowing down traffic and enforcing speed limits.

The Best Practice

The Best Practice

Do you need speed bumps?

Investing in speed bumps and other safety equipment can help to develop more trust with employees, prevent the cost of employee accidents, and prevent damage to machinery.

You may want to consider installing speed bumps if you need to control the speed of vehicles or enforce speed limits in a private car park, especially around pedestrian walk ways.

Bear in mind that certain machinery or warehouse equipment cannot pass over bumps, such as large forklifts. They can also only be installed on roads where the speed limit is lower than 30mph, and at least 30 metres away from a zebra-controlled area.

How often do they need to be spaced out?

Speed bumps should be spaced out between 20 metres and 150 metres apart, with the average being around 70 metres. The longer the distance between them, the more likely vehicles are to speed up between bumps.

Required height and width

The average height is from 25 mm to 100 mm. The length should be 900mm at a minimum, and should not cover the entire road to allow other vehicles such as large emergency vehicles or bicycles to pass over the flat surface of the road.

The difference between commercial and domestic speed bumps, and which one you need

Commercial speed bumps are best for use in industrial workplaces. They are generally higher than domestic and reduce vehicles to a typical 10 mph operating speed.

Alternatively, domestic speed bumps are smaller in height and are best for use in car parks or areas where pedestrians are near. A typical 50mm speed bump reduces vehicles to an operating speed of 5 mph.

signs and lighting

Speed bumps should be clearly visible to avoid accidents or damage to vehicles. Most come with ​​high quality yellow and black finish with diamond grade reflectors for night-time visibility, such as Brandsafe’s.

It is also advisable to make sure bumps are under clear lighting and have proper signage on the approach.

Installation Guide

You should be able to install a speed bump in less than an hour. Simply mark the area that you want the speed bump to be with chalk. Your speed bump should be placed at a right angle to an imaginary line that runs down the centre of the road.

Measure where the bolt would be inserted into the pavement, and drill holes for each bolt, ensuring to clean up the area afterwards. Next, place the speed bump in the marked area and fasten with the bolts, ensuring that you tighten the bolts securely to make sure the speed bump does not move when travelled over.

The installation of speed bumps are certainly worth considering as an effective way to enforce the speed limit. We hope this guide on the UK regulations helped you to understand more about the government recommendations. For more information, visit the HSE website or call Brandsafe by email at sales@brandsafeprotection.com or by phone on +44 (0)1525 850222.