Controversial speed bumps at Whanganui Hospital replaced

Whanganui Hospital is now replacing controversial speed bumps after defending the judder bars repeatedly.

Concern about the speed bumps was first raised in 2021 when an Age Concern Meals on Wheels volunteer driver quit because of the speed bumps at the Gate Two entrance.

And last month, the ”unnecessarily jarring” caused by the speed bumps aggravated 80-year-old visitor Maureen Sudlow’s neck injury, which led to a complaint to the hospital.

At the time, Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora group director of operations in Whanganui, Katherine Fraser-Chapple, told the Whanganui Chronicle if the bumps were crossed at the signposted speed of 5km/h, they were comfortable to navigate.

But now work has begun to remove the problematic bumps and replace them with a lower set in a new design.

Fraser-Chapple said this week the speed bumps were being modified “so that they would achieve the effect of ensuring drivers travel at safe speeds of 5km/h without a jarring effect”.

The speed bumps were first installed at Whanganui Hospital due to problems with speeding drivers.

Fraser-Chapple said it was a high foot traffic area.

Tartek Ltd director Tristan Teki said the company removed the old judder bars and replaced them with a set that were lower in height.

“We’ve chosen to go lower because we did notice some scrape marks on the top of the old judder bar.”

It was important to keep the speed bumps shallow for wheelchair-access vehicles as they were lower to the ground, he said.

He said the previous triangle design “was a bit weird”, and throughout his 25 years of installing speed bumps he had not come across the same design.

“You were only travelling one wheel over at a time, which was causing the car to rock back and forwards as well as up and down.

“It made the judder bar feel twice as bad.”

Meanwhile, Sudlow said she was “absolutely over the moon” to hear the judder bars were being removed.

“I couldn’t believe, after everything they said, that they finally did it.

“I was already planning to walk around the judder bars when we went there next time, but that means I won’t have to.”

Teki said the new bumps were a hit with hospital visitors: “We were getting cheers and appraisals as people were driving over them.”

Eva de Jong is a reporter for the Whanganui Chronicle covering health stories and general news. She began as a reporter in 2023.