traffic calming

Traffic calming consists of physical design and other measures, including narrowed roads and speed humps, put in place on roads for the intention of slowing down or reducing motor-vehicle traffic as well as to improve safety for pedestrians and cyclists. Urban planners and traffic engineers have many strategies for traffic calming. Such measures are common in Australia and Europe (especially Northern Europe), but less so in North America. Traffic calming is a calque (literal translation) of the German word Verkehrsberuhigung - the term's first published use in English was in 1985 by Carmen Hass-Klau.