Speed Bumps

May I suggest one way to protest speed bumps is to honk your horn every time you go over one. A "speed table" only means you get to honk longer. GERALD MARANTZ Chatsworth

Hands twisting nervously, Angel waited silently as the robed judicial officer scanned his file. In the last three years, the teenager had picked up two truancy tickets and one for "vandalism with a can of spray paint. " He ignored them. Then he turned 16 and learned he couldn't get a driver's license unless he showed up in a South Los Angeles courtroom and resolved what he feared could be hundreds of dollars in fines. Judicial referee Jack Furay, framed by a large court seal on the wall behind him, looked up and announced he didn't want Angel's mother paying for her son's transgressions.

A representative of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works told the Town Council that three areas of Altadena have been targeted for the county's pilot speed-bump program. Within three to six months, speed bumps will be installed on about 11 streets clustered along: West Palm Street from Glenrose Avenue to Fair Oaks Avenue; Pepper Drive from New York Drive to Washington Boulevard, and Olive Avenue from West Palm Street to Ventura Street.

These aren't your older brother's Denver Nuggets, the ones with Kenyon Martin, Carmelo Anthony, J.R. Smith and Nene that were mainly speed bumps for the Lakers' deep playoff runs in 2008 and 2009. This is the lighter, faster version that still might roll over and allow the Lakers to advance past the first round, but not before creating some lung burn in the mile-high air. The Nuggets led the NBA in scoring this season, throwing off 104 points a game in a season where only two other teams averaged more than 100 (San Antonio and Oklahoma City)

Regarding the article "Officials Seeking Use of Less Jarring 'Speed Bumps' " (June 18), the city attorney's concern over speed bumps causing accidents is not a valid argument against them. If the motorist is maintaining the speed limit (25 m.p.h.), the speed bump will not cause loss of control of the vehicle. What the city attorney should be concerned about is the potential danger to pedestrians (particularly schoolchildren) who walk on Greenleaf Street, between Noble and Kester avenues in Sherman Oaks, because there are no sidewalks.

Speed bumps are an important part of public road management. Known as "traffic calming," the humps in the roadway are becoming controversial, pitting residents against rescue workers. MAURA E. MONTELLANO spoke to a resident and a fire department official. EMILY LEVINE Stockbroker, Santa Monica My husband and I signed a petition about 18 months ago for a speed bump on our street in Santa Monica. Ours is a street that people take from Wilshire Boulevard to reach Montana Avenue.

An ordinance that allows residents to petition for speed bumps on residential streets was approved by the Beverly Hills City Council on Tuesday. The ordinance was approved after extensive public hearings and surveys dating back to 1988, and a test program that showed speed bumps reduced vehicular speed in residential neighborhoods by about 5 m.p.h and decreased traffic by about 7% daily.

A request for speed bumps on El Rancho Drive has been denied by the City Council, but police enforcement of the street's speed limit will be increased. An El Rancho Drive resident had asked the city to install speed bumps on his street between Hacienda Drive and El Dorado Avenue to slow speeding cars, officials said.

A proposed policy on installing speed bumps and traffic circles in residential neighborhoods will be considered tonight by the City Council. "We don't have any [such devices] in the city at this point," said Joe Genovese, the city's traffic engineer. Other cities, such as Thousand Oaks, have such policies, Genovese said. Oxnard currently uses a combination of education and enforcement to solve traffic problems, including a radar trailer that displays motorists' speed.

The City Council on Tuesday voted 6 to 0 to approve a new policy that would allow citizens to petition for the installation of speed bumps along some residential streets. The council passed a set of seven guidelines that will govern the placement of the asphalt mounds. Tests show that the speed bumps slow most cars down by about 5 m.p.h. To have the obstacles installed, at least 65% of the residents who live on the street must sign a petition calling for the bumps, according to the policy.

Amazing how a few  weeks of hard work and well-deserved momentum  can be undercut by, say, 69 seconds of bad hockey. Or two sloppy shifts. And all that heavy lifting goes for naught. That is exactly what happened to the Ducks on Wednesday night in a rapid-fire first-period meltdown at Honda Center.  Dallas defeated the Ducks, 6-2, scoring three goals in a span of 3 minutes 54 seconds and two goals in 69 seconds. That turned into a 3-1 lead for the Stars after one period.

Question: We have been renting a condo and are in the process of buying it from the owner. My husband went to a board meeting to complain about the speeders on the association's road in front of our condo. We made the board aware that vehicles speed down the street in early-morning hours going two or three times the posted 15-mph speed limit. We asked the directors if they could install speed bumps where this is occurring. The board said no. The meeting minutes reported: Renter "expressed his concern about cars speeding in the streets by his home.

The Essential Engineer Why Science Alone Will Not Solve Our Global Problems Henry Petroski Alfred A. Knopf: 288 pp., $26.95 Henry Petroski, who has written several wonderful books about small things (toothpicks, pencils) and large things (bridges, technology, the importance of failure) has got something stuck in his craw. He is irritated by the way we romanticize scientists and disrespect the critical role of engineers: "Our Western Platonic bias has it that ideas are superior and prerequisite to things."

Momentum has been tough to come by -- or too often moving in the wrong direction -- for a struggling UCLA team this season. So when the Bruins face Delaware State at Pauley Pavilion this afternoon, they will be eager to grab a second consecutive victory. But they can't be too eager, not against an opponent that tends to move at a snail's pace. Delaware State (4-5) averages only 49 shots a game by holding the ball for 15 or 20 seconds, trying to score near the end of each possession.

Sen. Barack Obama narrowed Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's lead in the fight for Democratic presidential delegates Saturday, sweeping three states, while Sen. John McCain hit a detour on his march to the Republican nomination. Obama won Louisiana, Nebraska and Washington by wide margins as former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee won Kansas and Louisiana, and McCain won a tight race in Washington.

It will be business as usual at the L.A. County Fairgrounds in Pomona today when the National Hot Rod Assn. opens its 2008 season with the annual Winternationals, which run through Sunday. Engines will roar, fat tires will lay down bands of rubber and cars will speed down the drag strip at upward of 300 mph. Off the track, however, the pro drag racing circuit hit an unexpected speed bump Jan.

The open road ain't what it used to be. From Horace Greeley to "Little Miss Sunshine," Americans have been finding themselves on the journey west, seeking uncharted territory they can call their own. But the landscape of "Wild Hogs" is cluttered with the comic equivalent of suburban sprawl, an endless cyclorama of rehashed jokes and whiny complaint. A reformed party animal with a neurotic wife and a disdainful teen son, Doug (Tim Allen) is smothering in his suburban straitjacket.

This column has a sweet tooth for tasty neighborhood disputes -- particularly ones that are relevant to anyone in Southern California. So here's one from Western Heights, an old neighborhood just west of downtown Los Angeles that borders the Santa Monica Freeway and is filled with stately Craftsman homes, some in better shape than others.