The main road in Surfside now has new speedbumps installed. These were installed by the local residents association in an effort to get traffic to slow down. Time will tell as to the effectiveness of the plan.

It would help if these "muertos" were painted or marked with signage especially for motorcyclists and cyclists. Anyone who has discovered these by accident is aware of the issue. As to whether they will solve the problem of people driving too fast and failing to stop at intersections and stop signs, that remains to be seen. Local residents who drive this road daily will no doubt slow down, but if you don't know they exist, it's doubtful they will have much effect on speeding tourists, other than sending them to the local garage for repairs.

While the legal height for speedbumps are a maximum of 5cm (2 inches), many communities exceed these regulations. Complaints also arise from emergency vehicles and increased noise from large trucks that have to gear down at each bump. We have also noticed vehicles with loose suspension that tend to speed up to avoid the effect of the bump in the road. A better plan may have been to install these at intersections with existing stop signs, rather than the random locations they are in presently.

It would also be nice to see promotional signs and overgrown bushes removed from locations where local roads meet the main road. The blind spots they create add to the issue with speeding traffic.

Hopefully word will spread quickly that you need to slow down now, and in time our roads will be safer for pedestrians, cyclists, dogs and the local cows. Traffic is not going to go away, considering there is only one main roadway, so it is important for the community to work together to come up with new ideas that can help make the streets safer.

Muertos may not be the best answer but it is a start.