sleeping policeman
(slee.ping poh.LEES.mun)
n.
A speed hump or speed bump.
Example Citation:
In Atlanta, Dallas, San Francisco and other cities, the speed hump, or bump, popularly known as the sleeping policeman, has been gaining in popularity.
—Garry Pierre-Pierre, "Listen: No Thump. Speed Humps Are Lower. Also Quieter, Kinder and Gentler," The New York Times, September 2, 1996
Earliest Citation:
You can be 'radared' from overhead but, as in France, if there is a trap threatening, other drivers will flash a warning; though helicopters are not yet, to my knowledge used across the Channel. And you will find many warning notices of speed detection devices by the road side — something of a sleeping policeman device but worth bearing in mind.
—Roy Harry, "Backwards thinking," The Guardian (London), October 19, 1987
