If reducing speeding is the ultimate goal, then Manteca has 50 or so “traffic officers” and counting and not just the five police officers dedicated to traffic enforcement.

And except for an upfront cost of $10,000 or so each, they aren’t costing taxpayers millions of dollars a year or creating a huge unfunded pension liability.

They are also on the job 24/7 and never take a day off.

We’re talking about speed lumps.

And where they have been placed have led to residential streets seeing a reduction in speeding and an overall slower movement of traffic.

The latest — and arguably the best example of how effective they can be — is along the Edison Street corridor from Powers Avenue io Main Street.

Powers Avenue and Edison Street are what are considered “collector” streets given neighborhood residents use them to reach arterials.

But because of how the streets and neighborhoods were laid out in the 1960s and how traffic along the Yosemite Avenue and Main Street corridors has grown over the decades plus development that has changed traffic patterns due to shopping and such, Powers-Edison has emerged as a de facto downtown bypass.

It means they have become more than collector streets per se as more and more traffic not originating in the neighborhoods use the streets.

Up until a few weeks ago, there were only three stop signs and zero speed lumps on the Powers-Edison route from Yosemite to Main.

Now there are four stop signs and three speed lumps.

To be clear, Powers Avenue is not exactly an ideal candidate for speed lumps or more stop signs.

It has a bit to do with the fact it might be considered “more of a collector street” than Edison. The reality is it is on a key travel route for fire engine movements. As such, that needs to carry some weight.

Ultimately what has been added in terms of traffic safety/calming measures over the past 20 years close to the fire station — stop signs on Powers at both Norman Drive and Marin Street — were for substantial safety concerns.

Earlier this year before speed lumps and stop signs popped up on Edison east of Powers, driving the speed limit meant half the time you’d have someone riding your rear bumper.

That is no longer the case.

Where once there was just stop signs on each end of a five block stretch, there are now three stop signs altogether and three speed lumps.

Given you need/should come to a full stop at stop signs and speed lumps need to be taken at 15 mph or less unless, speeding has dropped off drastically.

Are there detractors of speed lumps?

Absolutely.

The funny thing, though, is you rarely will find critics of speed lumps on streets where residents have benefitted from their placement given it has slowed speed in front of their homes and improved safety — including backing out of driveways.

Do not misunderstand.

Manteca needs traffic officers and it can benefit from even more of them.

In terms of calming speed in neighborhoods on streets where the frequency of it is a problem, speed lumps do an effective jump on a daily basis.

And it does so without adding a financial burden to the people that are speeding in the form of a ticket and the economic impact of accumulating moving violation points and how they can affect insurance rates.

Speed lumps are arguably the most effective of the three “E”s when it comes to safer streets — engineering, education, and enforcement.

Education, for the most part falls on deaf ears.

Enforcement is random and the odds are low of getting caught.

Engineering in terms of how roads are designed and altered is by far the most effective at getting people to allow down.

It’s not 100 percent effective. But it is as close as you’re going to get.

And it does so at the lowest cost and the greatest consistency.

City officials have a long list of neighborhood generated requests in the queue for streets to be considered for speed lumps.

Manteca — thanks to the Measure Q sales tax — has given the city the ability to pursue enhancements such as a more robust placement of speed lumps to enhance safety and improve the quality of life in neighborhoods.

As for those that don’t like them, they wouldn’t be needed if everybody followed posted speed limits and paid attention to driving including pedestrians crossing the streets, bicyclists, and those trying to safely exit their driveways.