# Do you say “speed humps” or “speed bumps? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 29, 2022, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-speed-humps-or-speed-bumps/973971 "2022-10-29T17:17:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2022, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-speed-humps-or-speed-bumps/973971/41 "2022-10-30T21:28:35Z")
> [@XOldiesJock](#): > > I have an intense fear of speed bumps, but I’m slowly getting over it. Well, they are of concern to people with low-hanging exhaust, old suspension, and people going over the speed limit. Years ago, a former cop I know, was chasing an idiot and hit one at full speed and promptly dropped his transmission onto the road. ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2022, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-speed-humps-or-speed-bumps/973971/42 "2022-10-30T21:32:58Z")
I see what you did there ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2022, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-speed-humps-or-speed-bumps/973971/43 "2022-10-30T21:36:16Z")
I’ve never seen a cop monitoring speed in St Martin. Never. Instead, they have speed bumps anywhere that speeding is a problem. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2022, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-speed-humps-or-speed-bumps/973971/44 "2022-10-30T21:55:08Z")
When referring to the actual traffic control structures, I say speed humps where they are speed humps, speed bumps where they are speed bumps. _They put speed humps on East Lake Avenue in the late 90s. They moved the speed bumps on 54th SW a half block from where they used to be._ When referring metaphorically to something that just serves to slow down progress, I use speed bump for the sake of commonality of understanding. _This procedural vote will be merely a speedbump in the law’s path to being approved._ ---
**Author:** ![DKW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dkw/32/3118_2.png) [@DKW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DKW)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2022, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-speed-humps-or-speed-bumps/973971/45 "2022-10-30T21:55:09Z")
Speed bumps. This is the first time I’ve even seen the term “speed humps”. For the record, I’ve never actually heard anyone say “person access chamber” either. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2022, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-speed-humps-or-speed-bumps/973971/46 "2022-10-30T22:11:18Z")
Speed bumps. I have seen speed humps used once around here. A local street had a bit of traffic for a residential area. They wanted speed bumps, but they were illegal on public streets in NY. The town put in “speed humps” that were lower and with a more gradual slope. Cars had to slow, but not to stop. They were there for several years until the state got wind of it and had them removed. ---
**Author:** ![eschrodinger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschrodinger/32/122_2.png) [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2022, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-speed-humps-or-speed-bumps/973971/47 "2022-10-30T22:22:29Z")
PNW – Speed bumps for both kinds. I understand what speed hump means, but I’ve never heard anyone say it, and never seen it on a sign. Sometimes the low wide bumps have a caution sign that says “BUMP.” ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2022, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-speed-humps-or-speed-bumps/973971/48 "2022-10-31T03:56:57Z")
The first time I ever heard the term “speed humps” was while playing the pinball machine “Road Show” (circa 1994). I haven’t heard it used much since then. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2022, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-speed-humps-or-speed-bumps/973971/49 "2022-10-31T11:40:09Z")
I say Speed Bump to refer to all kinds of deliberate height-based obstructions that you can nonetheless drive over. I rarely say Speed Hump and only when there’s a need to differentiate it from its smaller cousins. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2022, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-speed-humps-or-speed-bumps/973971/50 "2022-10-31T11:55:16Z")
This is the first time I’ve noticed anyone using the term “speed hump”. I, too, associate that weird mostly with its sexual meaning. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2022, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-speed-humps-or-speed-bumps/973971/51 "2022-10-31T11:59:01Z")
They actually used to be “humps”, and the older ones in place are exactly that. Around here, at least, the modern ones being installed are small strips that deliver sharp, quick “bumps” if you are driving more than ten MPH. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2022, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-speed-humps-or-speed-bumps/973971/52 "2022-10-31T12:05:27Z")
Some of the ones in my apartment complex are classic asphalt/concrete circular speed bumps, but some of them are plastic and detachable, with the _height_ of speed bumps but an angle in between speed bumps and the higher-but-gentler speed humps. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2022, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-speed-humps-or-speed-bumps/973971/53 "2022-10-31T13:30:01Z")
I’m now imagining two factions with unenviable titles: the “Pro-Hump” group and the “Anti-Hump” group. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2022, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-speed-humps-or-speed-bumps/973971/54 "2022-10-31T13:42:27Z")
Yeah, bumps are the things that are maybe a foot or two wide, and pretty tall in relation to their width (maybe 8" tall) . You see them in lower speed areas like parking lots, etc… Road humps/speed humps are wider- probably more like five or six feet wide, and equally tall as a speed bump. They’re usually put across roads to keep the speeds down without necessarily slowing it to a crawl. I don’t know for sure, but I’d be willing to bet that they can tailor the effective speeds on streets by putting in specific widths of road humps. Here’s an example of both that are less than a mile apart, and at the same scale. See how the hump is much wider, and the bump is not? [[Album] imgur.com ![](https://i.imgur.com/r4K48JM.png?fb "imgur.com") ](https://imgur.com/a/kbLGmbW) ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2022, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-speed-humps-or-speed-bumps/973971/55 "2022-10-31T14:35:53Z")
> [@bump](#): > > pretty tall in relation to their width (maybe 8" tall) 8 inches wide? They’re not 8 inches tall. A whole lot of regular passenger cars would either tear their front bumper off or get their front wheel over it end up stuck there. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2022, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-speed-humps-or-speed-bumps/973971/56 "2022-10-31T15:54:08Z")
Yeah, here the speed bumps are less than a foot in width. Speed humps are 6-12 feet (most are on the 6’ side of that, and some seem slightly smaller to me, like 4’, but the Chicago Department of Transportation lists those numbers.). Anything larger and you have a speed table or raised intersection. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a speed bump (as defined above) on a residential street. Those are generally reserved for alleys and such low-traffic areas, as I mentioned upthread. Humps are all around my neighborhood (but not on my street). Emergency personnel are known not to be fond of them. I hate the things, but I understand why people in the neighborhood would ask for them, as there are a lot of cars just flying through residential neighborhoods. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2022, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-speed-humps-or-speed-bumps/973971/57 "2022-11-03T00:00:48Z")
Speed bumps - and I’m from near where that photo was taken (in fact, I recognized it, before even reading the label). ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2022, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-speed-humps-or-speed-bumps/973971/58 "2022-11-03T22:27:49Z")
New Hampshire, definitely speed bump. If I’ve ever seen speed hump in print before now I apparently chalked it up as a typo and gave it no further thought. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2022, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-speed-humps-or-speed-bumps/973971/59 "2022-11-03T22:56:46Z")
Sleeping Policeman (I’m from the UK 😉 ) ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2022, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-speed-humps-or-speed-bumps/973971/60 "2022-11-13T03:22:19Z")
While I fully know the difference between bumps and humps, as I stated a long ways back in this thread, and have humps just a block away, I always use the term “speed bump” unless there’s a specific reason to differentiate between the two. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-say-speed-humps-or-speed-bumps/973971.md?page=2)