Sydney is plagued by confusing speed humps. These are some of the worst

Last month, the Herald asked readers whether they thought a speed hump in Riverwood, sandwiched between two bus stops, was the worst in Sydney. They replied with dozens more.

It turns out that Sydney is littered with speed humps mistaken as pedestrian crossings, and crossings that look like humps.

The confusion has forced councils into quick-fix solutions. Georges River Council wrapped yellow and orange mesh around poles in front of the hump that the Herald initially reported.

Lane Cove Council has resorted to wrapping blue cardboard around bollards, warning pedestrians that the speed humps along the suburb’s shopping strip on Longueville Road are “not a crossing”.

However, the caution has gone unnoticed by locals, who breeze past it and jaywalk instead.

In the inner west, one speed bump in Earlwood has raised the ire of many residents. Numerous pedestrians were captured attempting to use the hump as a crossing, confusing both themselves and drivers.

So, white marking on the side of a hump – and not on top, as that would indicate a zebra crossing – should mean it is a traffic-slowing apparatus rather than a pedestrian passage, right?

Well, that’s not necessarily the case in Bondi, where white markings on the side of some speed humps are crossings called “continuous footpaths”, such as those at the intersections of Curlewis and Gould streets, as well as Glenayr Avenue and Beach Road.

“Continuous footpath treatment is a traffic-calming measure that emphasises priority movement of pedestrians and requires all vehicles to give way,” Waverley Council said in a statement. “An assessment by council staff found that the average speed of vehicles travelling through the Beach Road and Glenayr Avenue intersection decreased by approximately 25 per cent.”

About 15 metres behind one of the speed humps on Beach Road and Glenayr Avenue is a real speed hump … with the same white markings as the continuous footpath, and a red coating on the surface.

Lane Cove Council said its speed humps – installed in 2024 on Longueville Road – are also intended to slow traffic in a busy area and improve road safety. But the council soon became aware that some pedestrians began mistaking them for crossing points.

“To address this, additional yellow ‘Do Not Cross’ markings were added to clarify that the speed humps are traffic-calming devices and not pedestrian crossings … [and] installed signage on the adjacent steel bollards which block passage onto the speed hump,” a council spokesperson said.

“While council has taken steps to educate the community about their purpose, pedestrians ultimately choose where they cross the road.”

The City of Canterbury Bankstown, which built the Earlwood speed bump, did not reply to a request for comment.

Decisions about where and how speed humps are installed mostly sit with local councils as road managers, Transport for NSW said.

“At a state level, Transport for NSW does not approve individual speed humps but provides standards and guidance that councils are expected to follow,” a spokesperson said.

“Austroads guidance is clear that traffic-calming measures are most effective when they are clearly differentiated, well signed and part of a cohesive, area‑wide scheme, rather than isolated or inconsistently applied treatments.”

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