Ever since council installed the speed bumps on Elizabeth St, Urangan (near Woolworths) I have seen more vehicular near misses and pedestrians crossing against the traffic than ever before.

I presume they were supposed to make that area safer but they're having the opposite effect and will, of course, also slow down emergency vehicles.

Elizabeth St is a 60kph road and the speed bumps are such that most traffic almost comes to a standstill leading to:

1. pedestrians thinking they have right of way (they don't, confirmed by council)
2. vehicles nearly rear-ending each other
3. additional nuisance noise as people accelerate away from the bumps

The installation of speed bumps goes against councils own recommendations - from their own fact sheet:-

"TRAFFIC CALMING
It is often believed that regulatory signage such as the installation of 50km/h signs in residential streets, and traffic calming devices such as speed humps and traffic islands will reduce [speeding and other reckless driver behaviour]. Unfortunately this is often not the case and can introduce a number of other complications for local residents (e.g. nuisance noise) and other road users.

As this activity is often engaged in by a very small percentage of road users, it is believed that regulatory enforcement provides for the most meaningful and effective management of this behaviour."

Other councils, e.g. Redlands, won't even install traffic calming measures on a 60kph road - not sure if that's a Qld, or local, rule though.