‘The worst in Fresno.’ Speed bumps — and city’s bad drivers — are famous on YouTube | Opinion
Fresno’s most famous speed bumps have admirers everywhere.
Thousands of online viewers take great delight in watching some of the city’s worst drivers fail to slow down for a set of speed bumps. The collision from the first bump sends cars, trucks and SUVs slightly airborne before they inevitably come crashing down on the second bump and then the street.
All the sights (including a shower of sparks if at night, dawn or dusk) and sounds of metal undercarriages slamming into pavement are captured by two cameras with a front-row view, then uploaded to YouTube. Since launching in April 2022, the Speed Bump Olympics channel has accumulated more than 17,500 subscribers, 4.7 million video views and been featured on several news sites.
“I laughed so hard at this,” one YouTube commenter said. “That Amazon van caught air and the one SUV hatch flew open!”
“This is so relaxing and satisfying, watching the reality of how many people don’t pay attention at all while driving,” added a second.
“As a physicist who dabbles in engineering, I would like to applaud the engineer that designed this,” replied a third commenter from The Netherlands.
A fourth said: “Shout out to all the drivers that actually slowed down!”
Although the bumps have received a little local media attention, their existence was unknown to me until recently. After being entertained by a few minutes of video, of course I had to check them out in person and find out more.
It’s a compulsion.
Turns out the famous traffic control devices are one of three sets of speed bumps along a half-mile stretch of Chestnut Avenue in east-central Fresno, designed to curtail speeds on a street lined with single-family homes, apartments, a charter school (currently closed) and a church.
Longtime residents told me they’ve been in place since the mid-1990s. That’s when Fresno was in the midst of a speed-bump boom — approximately 1,000 were installed between 1987-97 — before city leaders in 2006 called for a moratorium that wasn’t lifted until 2021.
Since then, dozens of new speed bumps have been installed or are scheduled to be. There’s even a program where people can petition for them in their neighborhoods.
I doubt any speed bumps in town are as well-marked as the three along Chestnut. Drivers approaching in both directions are cautioned with yellow signs that warn “Bump” and “10 mph” as well as the word “BUMP” painted on the road. The bumps themselves have arrows painted on them and are adorned with a string of yellow reflective road markers for extra nighttime visibility.
Little good all that seems to do. At least judging by the hundreds of grooves gouged into the second bump of each set and the street a couple yards beyond. Some of the grooves are an inch deep.
Residents split over speed bumps
How do the people who have to live with Fresno’s most famous speed bumps feel about them? The opinions seem decidedly mixed. Out of the six residents I spoke to, three really liked the bumps and three really hated them.
Those who like the bumps say they serve their primary function — controlling speeds — and that drivers who slam into them are either negligent or reckless.
Those who don’t like the bumps say people don’t slow down for them anyway and are tired of the loud noises at all hours of the day and having to collect trash and debris in front of their homes. Even the street sweeper leaves a mess.
“People would race up and down the street, and (the bumps did) slow that down a lot,” said Cherie, who has lived at her current residence since 1965 but declined to give her last name. “It doesn’t stop the speeding, though, and a lot of people don’t slow down for them at all.”
The operator of Speed Bump Olympics, who posted his 99th video on Wednesday (an 11-minute, 49-second clip entitled “Speed Bump Fails 55”), also placed the blame on drivers.
“In the (26 years) I’ve lived here, the road has been redone and the speed bumps changed four times,” James emailed. “They were modified roughly a year ago to have more reflectors than any other set of speed bumps. It changed nothing.”
‘The bumps are horrible’
Resident Susie Sanders agrees drivers are the problem, but also wishes the speed bumps would go away. Probably because one of them is located right outside her driveway.
“People should slow down more, but the bumps are horrible,” Sanders said. “They’re awful. They’ve got to be the worst ones in Fresno.”
More times over the years than she can count, Sanders has been awakened in the middle of the night by the sound of metal and pavement colliding or the squeal of hard braking.
Last weekend, during an evening rainstorm, a truck carrying construction equipment hit the bumps hard enough to dump a bunch of tools and debris into the street, and it didn’t bother stopping. The next vehicle to come along ran over a car jack and got a flat tire.
Sanders grabbed a flashlight and umbrella and headed outside to see what the commotion was about. She saw the man who got the flat collecting debris while cursing.
“He was so upset, and I don’t blame him a bit,” she said.
Even though Sanders would like to see the bumps removed, in particular the two in front of her house, she knows that’s not a universal opinion on her street nor likely to happen.
Which should come as great news to the legion of YouTube viewers who enjoy the antics of bad Fresno drivers.
