Features of Speed Bumps

While not the standard installation, rubber speed bumps are quickly becoming the preferred speed bump installation for many parking facilities worldwide. This is primarily because the rubber bump is a manufactured item that offers features asphalt bumps just can’t provide.

For example, rubber speed bumps offer a reflective quality that can’t be duplicated with an asphalt bump. Rubber bumps have reflective stripes baked into the surface in a striped pattern as well as several cat’s eye reflectors embedded within the sides for maximum reflectivity.

While asphalt bumps can be painted in a striped pattern, there’s no paint out there that can imitate the glass beaded stripes on a rubber bump.

Rubber bumps also offer portability. Many areas of the country are affected by snow and ice during winter months. A rubber speed bump can be pulled up and stored away for the winter so they don’t interfere with snow plows. An asphalt bump is typically a permanent installation. So you have two choices; you can have them removed, only to pay to have new ones put in next spring, or you can leave them as is, and have them get chipped up and damaged by the plows, and perhaps even cause damages to the plows too.

Rubber bumps offer uniform sizes. While an asphalt bump can be poured and molded from asphalt, there’s no way to guarantee that one side of the bump will be exactly the same height and width as the other side. This depends on the talent and workmanship of the person pouring them. Rubber bumps are manufactured within a facility that molds each and every one from the same mold. This means each and every bump will be the same length, the same width and the same height from the first one you install, to the last. When you re-install next year, it doesn’t matter if you don’t install them in the same order, they’ll still fit together perfectly.

Rubber bumps offer hose and line protection. Each rubber speed bump is molded with two 1.25” x 1.25” channels in the underside. These can be used in a variety of locations to cover air hoses, water lines, electrical cords, etc. This is a feature that you just can’t get with an asphalt bump. There’s no way to pour hot asphalt over a rubber water line and expect it to survive. But you can certainly throw a rubber speed bump over the line and in about 2 minutes, your water line is protected.

Rubber bumps offer versatility. Asphalt bumps can usually only be installed in a permanent installation. That means they’re probably only installed in a parking lot, outside, where other asphalt has already been done (or is being done). Rubber bumps however can be installed in the same parking lot as the asphalt bump, plus it can be installed on concrete. It can be placed in a parking garage or it can be placed on a gravel or dirt road (using the proper anchoring). Bumps can even be installed on the end of a loading dock, or on the side of a boat dock. They can be installed permanently or be removed & relocated when necessary.

Rubber speed bumps offer so many features that an asphalt bump just can’t match. It’s hard to figure out why anyone would choose anything else.