Slow and Safe, Save a Life

Emergency-Friendly Traffic Calming

The City of Moreno Valley is one of the winners of the national Build a Better Mousetrap (BABM) competition! The City received the 2024 Innovative Project Award for developing its "Slow and Safe, Save a Life" (SSSL) modified speed cushion design, a traffic calming solution that reduces residential speeding while preserving emergency vehicle access.

As navigation applications increasingly direct motorists through residential neighborhoods to avoid congestion, local streets are experiencing higher traffic volumes and faster vehicle speeds. Traditional traffic calming devices can effectively slow vehicles, but they may also delay emergency responders. To address this challenge, Moreno Valley's Transportation Engineering Division partnered with the City's Fire Department to develop a modified speed cushion that improves neighborhood safety while preserving emergency response capabilities.

The modified speed cushion features a wider dual-tire footprint that allows fire engines and other emergency vehicles to pass through with little to no vertical deflection while encouraging passenger vehicles to reduce speed. Following successful testing with the City's Fire Department, the design was installed on a residential street and evaluated through before-and-after speed studies. Results showed reduced vehicle speeds without impacting emergency response operations.

This practical and cost-effective solution has also received positive feedback from residents and has not affected routine services such as trash collection, street sweeping, or mail delivery. Moreno Valley's innovative approach demonstrates how local agencies can balance traffic calming objectives with the critical need for reliable emergency access.

The BABM national recognition program highlights locally relevant, innovative solutions and provides a platform to share innovations to everyday challenges that local and tribal transportation professionals encounter on local roads. These local road solutions range from the development of new project delivery or design processes to the invention of new tools, equipment, or modifications that increase efficiency, enhance safety, reduce cost, and/or improve the quality of transportation on local roads.

Have an innovation you'd like to share with your sister agencies in California and possibly across the nation? Contact us any time to submit an application for next year's competition, we're always looking to spotlight great ideas from our local agency partners.