Speed bumps in my village
Discussion
Following a recent accident (& accidents from some time ago, so I'm told) the council have, in their wisdom, decided to build one mile's worth of speed bumps.
The recent accident involved a banned motorist doing 80mph in the dark without lights in a 30mph zone, hitting, running & killing a child.
My deepest sympathies go out to the parents but ---
How will their solution prevent idiots repeating the same offence in future?
I must admit that it is difficult to keep to the 30 mph limit on this piece of road as it is wide enough for four vehicles to pass each other in comfort & some of it does include a decent incline.
Whilst I do agree that shooting anyone who commits such a serious offence will make our roads safer, I don't really see the point of their action. Buses & trucks will be unaffected by the bumps as will anyone who doesn't care for their car.
The recent accident involved a banned motorist doing 80mph in the dark without lights in a 30mph zone, hitting, running & killing a child.
My deepest sympathies go out to the parents but ---
How will their solution prevent idiots repeating the same offence in future?
I must admit that it is difficult to keep to the 30 mph limit on this piece of road as it is wide enough for four vehicles to pass each other in comfort & some of it does include a decent incline.
Whilst I do agree that shooting anyone who commits such a serious offence will make our roads safer, I don't really see the point of their action. Buses & trucks will be unaffected by the bumps as will anyone who doesn't care for their car.
I used to live in Nuneaton and they are everywhere. I think they bought a job lot of tarmac and had to use it. One street was targeted for peds getting knocked down. The locals were balloted and around half replied and just over half of them approved. So a 1/4 (or so) of the residents caused all the misery. No info was given about the accidents (whose fault etc) and another road we refused to use (Nunetaon and surrounding roads have a load of bumps), going the long way etc.
quote:They use those on my estate in Basingstoke - except they're all on a sweeping crescent and so your visibility is massively reduced - go thru at 20mph and there's a good chance that you'll meet oncoming traffic before you're clear.. go thru at 40 and you've got a much better chance of getting thru uninterrupted.. brilliant.
The measure that slows me more than anything is where you have an island across one half of the road & you have to give way to oncoming traffic. Half a mile down the road is a similar island on the other side of the road where you are given priority.
Same here - the local council have installed speed bumps in our street, all the SUVs, white vans etc ignore them, it seems like it's only me who has to gingerly edge over them. Thing is, something's definitely needed as I take my life in my hands every time I go out to wash the car. I can see it now..lean over at the wrong time and....woosh, there goes me head....
Why do the damn things extend all the way to the kerb? Our road's lined with cars all the way along, all the time, so taking them up to the kerb only gives the residents headaches when parking - doesn't do a thing to slow the traffic down. Or am I missing something??
Why do the damn things extend all the way to the kerb? Our road's lined with cars all the way along, all the time, so taking them up to the kerb only gives the residents headaches when parking - doesn't do a thing to slow the traffic down. Or am I missing something??
quote:
They use those on my estate in Basingstoke - except they're all on a sweeping crescent and so your visibility is massively reduced - go thru at 20mph and there's a good chance that you'll meet oncoming traffic before you're clear.. go thru at 40 and you've got a much better chance of getting thru uninterrupted.. brilliant.
is this by any chance Hatch Warren where after all the expense of installing them the council are looking at relocating them or removing all together..
now i know where all my council tax is spent
quote:
JMorgan
The roadplanners drove you out of Nuneaton ? same here, that and having to drive past a Lada dealer to get to work every morning!
Lucky for me it was a job move back to Wales. Unlucky for me its to a town with a rather odd council. Remember the days in the dim and distant past at play school when in the sand pit you would come up with wierd and wonderful road layouts with your dinky toys, well my local road planners never left thier pit.
Humps down here as well. One street the humps were so bad (bolt on types) the tiv bottomed out on every one, house we were looking at crossed off the list.
I'm pretty sure I saw a piece in the news a while ago about a guy who had invented a speed ramp that was filled with liqud. The idea was that if you hit it at the right speed, the liquid had time to move and the bump became less severe. If you hit it faster than intended in became a normal, albeit aggressive speed ramp (less time for ht eliquid to deform I guess.) Anybody know whether they've been introduced yet?
One problem with speed sensitive humps is if they go wrong. If you're travelling at 30mph and the hump is supposed to get of the way what happens if it doesn't (flying bikes, trashed sports cars). At least with a fixed hump there is no doubt and bikers/sports cars can slow right down for them.
If the speed limit says 30, fine - there's a reason (valid/justifiable or not). There are 2 things though, that I just can't get my head around.
1. Why do the planners allow new local estate roads to be designed and built to positively encourage higher speeds, then put speed humps everywhere? Case in question - the road that was built through my housing estate last year and "humped" this year - no wonder taxation is so high. It would have bee soooo esay to have the developers design the road to be less speed friendly.
2. If the speed limit is 30mph and the planners, in their wisdom, must have decided that this was a safe speed for the road/residential environment, then why install 75 mm speed humps that are unsafe to drive over at speeds above 50% of the legal limit. (Yes, yes, I know that if you have an SUV with 3 feet of suspension travel you may be able to do 30 - but I haven't seen one of the school-run nanny's do it safely yet!! and in the Cerbera you can forget anything over 10 mph....)
Don't we have the right to live within the law without undue restriction?
1. Why do the planners allow new local estate roads to be designed and built to positively encourage higher speeds, then put speed humps everywhere? Case in question - the road that was built through my housing estate last year and "humped" this year - no wonder taxation is so high. It would have bee soooo esay to have the developers design the road to be less speed friendly.
2. If the speed limit is 30mph and the planners, in their wisdom, must have decided that this was a safe speed for the road/residential environment, then why install 75 mm speed humps that are unsafe to drive over at speeds above 50% of the legal limit. (Yes, yes, I know that if you have an SUV with 3 feet of suspension travel you may be able to do 30 - but I haven't seen one of the school-run nanny's do it safely yet!! and in the Cerbera you can forget anything over 10 mph....)
Don't we have the right to live within the law without undue restriction?
My estate suffers the speeding vans/SUVs/buses problem.
In a sick, frustrated way I almost find myself wishing a kid to run out in front of one of the 40mph buses...
My suggestion is:
if there's a large vehicle behind you, SLOW RIGHT DOWN for the hump (i.e even more than you have to already!). Maybe this way everyone will get as pissed off as those of us driving lightweight vehicles that can stop quickly.
In a sick, frustrated way I almost find myself wishing a kid to run out in front of one of the 40mph buses...
My suggestion is:
if there's a large vehicle behind you, SLOW RIGHT DOWN for the hump (i.e even more than you have to already!). Maybe this way everyone will get as pissed off as those of us driving lightweight vehicles that can stop quickly.
Had to laugh last night. Driving home from work, got stuck behind a bus coming out of Birmingham (Marston Green). Over a series of speed bumps, one of which is rather stupidly placed on a corner. Very loud crack as the bus went over this, bus immediately stopped. His back axle was on the floor.
Begs the question, just how much do these bloody things cost in wear and tear?
Incidentally, this hump was of the pillow type, which I believe are supposed to be designed to be straddled by buses and ambulances etc. Placement of this particular one on a sharp corner meant it wasn't (and also tends to jolt the unwary, even at resonable speeds, towards the pavement - and this is 25 yds from a primary school and a row of shops).
Begs the question, just how much do these bloody things cost in wear and tear?
Incidentally, this hump was of the pillow type, which I believe are supposed to be designed to be straddled by buses and ambulances etc. Placement of this particular one on a sharp corner meant it wasn't (and also tends to jolt the unwary, even at resonable speeds, towards the pavement - and this is 25 yds from a primary school and a row of shops).
Yeah, I do that Matt, seems to work 
... Road near me goes past a school, which makes sense to keep the speed down. Fair enough. But to have to do 17mph all along it outside of schooltime winds me up. Especially when you have some old c u next tuesday in a volvo up your back.
Worse than that, the road with bumps turns into a 60 zone further along - the number of people who do 40 along here, and then carry on at 40 into the next 30 zone? Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr....
... Road near me goes past a school, which makes sense to keep the speed down. Fair enough. But to have to do 17mph all along it outside of schooltime winds me up. Especially when you have some old c u next tuesday in a volvo up your back. Worse than that, the road with bumps turns into a 60 zone further along - the number of people who do 40 along here, and then carry on at 40 into the next 30 zone? Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr....
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