Students at The University of Memphis have been killed andseriously injured in recent years while crossing Central Avenue.Some of them were jaywalking, true, but you're never going to stop18 and 19-year-olds from taking risks. They think they areinvulnerable.
The Memphis City Council last year committed to spending $3million to lower Central and put fencing along the parking lot tofunnel students safely across.
There's a better solution to the dangers of crossing Central.They could get the same result by using the newly developed DunlopTranscalm, a British device, kind of like a speed bump, that forcestraffic to operate at a preset speed of 5 mph to 30 mph. Several ofthe Transcalm units, which could cost as little as $200,000, couldbe programmed to operate only during the peak crossing hours. Andthe solution could be implemented a lot sooner than loweringCentral.
The air-filled hump is made of rubber and has a valve fittingthat can control the rate at which air escapes when vehicles driveover it. The inflatable hump stays rock-hard when a speeding carpasses over it. But when a motorist drives over it slowly, itdeflates, laying flat on the road surface before popping into shapeagain. Cars operating at the designated speed limit would have noproblem. And the device is sensitive to the weight of busses andambulances with casualties and delicate equipment on board to letthem cross without reducing their speed.
Testing of the device began in London a couple of years ago.Today it's being praised by Corporation of London Highways DirectorJoe Weiss as "excellent, the first traffic-calming device that cantell the difference between slow and fast drivers."
Here's a way to solve a serious problem much more quickly andsave the City of Memphis major dollars, while also reducing thenumber and severity of accidents involving U of M students.
David F. Diamond
U of M student
