New speed hump protects cars

Go slow and your chin spoiler is safe...

By PH Staff / Thursday, 28 April 2005 / Loading comments

This one will trash your car

Auto Express reports this week that a new form of speed hump has been tested that won't trash your suspension and chin spoilers below certain speeds.

It's deformable, so if you keep below 20mph, it stays flat. Go faster, and it becomes rigid, turning into a standard speed hump. It works using an air-valve, so it seems likely that it could be adapted to work at other speeds.

It also squashes flat when heavy vehicles go over it, so buses, fire engines and the like won't suffer the bump. Inventor Graham Heeks said he wanted a way of not impeding the passage of emergency vehicles.

The City of London has seen the first trials and the local highways boss said it was the best he'd seen. No news on deployment, either there or elsewhere, yet, though.