stupid traffic calming schemes

[Warwick67]

Just need to get this off my chest....
Nearly got hit again this morning in one of those stupid, stupid chicane type traffic calming (my ar3e) schemes. Each day I go through Little Wymondly in Hertfordshire, what kind of imbecile thinks putting an obstruction in the middle of the road is going to "calm" traffic. It frustrates the hell out of me, it takes your concentration of pedestrians and other hazards, people speed up, racing to get through before on coming traffic and..... If there isn't anything coming the other way or its your right of way you don't have to slow down anyhow - stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid!!
Right, I feel better now.....

[Boydie88]

I agree. Terrible things. Must waste so much fuel accross the country every day by forcing people to stop. Can't imagine how tedious they must be in a busy village in a rush hour.

[Glosphil]

One chicane (one side of road completely blocked off) near me is placed just before the brow of a hill so that traffic coming over the brow is often faced with cars on the wrong side of the road. It is also on a bus route. Buses are hardly back on their own side of the road before reaching the brow. And this is a road safety measure?

Another is placed close to a T-junction. Cars wanting to turn left out of the 'stem' of the T are prevented from doing so by cars on the wrong side of the road negociating the chicane.

[TonyRPH]

We have the same chicane type calming measures.

However - look at the genius place they decided to place this one.

There is an old age home (to the bottom of the picture) and a busy Sainsbury's corner shop (to the top of the picture) and this road carries a lot of traffic.

So you have people trying to turn out of the shop side street, but being faced with somebody passing through the chicane, who wasn't observant enough to notice the traffic exiting said side street.



And to make matters worse still... it's on a tight but long bend which can be a bit blind from the point of the chicane. And of course, people are now racing between the two chicanes (30 limit) but many can be seen to be doing 40+.

Does this make this road safer?

Does it fk. And.. even worse still - pedestrians have taken to using the chicane as a pedestrian crossing...



ETA: Resized images.

Edited by TonyRPH on Tuesday 28th February 11:20

[HorneyMX5]

I hate them during the day but I LOVE them in the middleof the night!

[TonyRPH]

HorneyMX5 said:

I hate them during the day but I LOVE them in the middleof the night!

Not when they have fking great speed bumps in the middle of them.

[zippyprorider]

I used to live in Wymondley and they have to be there or speed bumps to try and deter people using it instead of the dual carriageway, I don't think they do a lot and speed bumps would be better!, (for what it's worth the ones outside the clock factory get run into once a month. Lol

[Boydie88]

TonyRPH said:

Not when they have fking great speed bumps in the middle of them.

I was goign to say yours look like they have speed bumps too! So if you do have to floor it after someone pulls out or is speeding around the bend, you know knacker your suspension. Brilliant.

Edit - and what is that blue car doing in the top pic :S

[Amateurish]

I HATE these things. My commute takes me through Cold Ash in Berks, where they have no fewer than FIVE of these stupid things in a row. I mean, it's so pointless and frustrating. It causes big queues, and so many near misses when people are desperate to squeeze through at the last moment. Any one who's been to Black & White garage (Alfa dealer) will have seen these.

[toon10]

They have those chicanes near me. As mentioned, people speed up and swerve across the road just to get through before the "right of way" traffic gets there. It's more dangerous than having nothing at all.

Still, I prefer them to the stupidly big speed bumps. I have to take the long way around to my gym now to avoid the suspention snapping mountains they've glued to the road.

[sday12]

There on in town, been spanked more times than I can care to remember.

Certainly does slow traffic down, 30-0 in three feet.

What idiot though it would be a good idea putting a massive lump of concrete in the road with two small signs telling you it's there?


Down right dangerous.

[Perd Hapley]

I don't mind them as a motorist, but as a cyclist I despise artificial width restrictions and little islands in the road. Nothing worse than some cock in a car impatiently trying to pass you while going through one.

[Big Rod]

This is near my house...

http://g.co/maps/66m7e

Right outside a school and cunningly positioned so you can't see what's coming until you're on the other side of the road and commited to going through!

The signposts have been taken out a couple of times.

[Warwick67]

Perd Hapley said:

I don't mind them as a motorist, but as a cyclist I despise artificial width restrictions and little islands in the road. Nothing worse than some cock in a car impatiently trying to pass you while going through one.

I couldn't agree more, I cycle in the summer and these are bloody deadly for a cyclist, you risk getting hit from front and back, if your really unlucky both!
I lived in Yeovil about 15 years ago they tried these near the football club, when the club kicked out if you were going against the flow you could sit there for half an hour just trying to enter the bloody stupid system. Thankfully, in that case, someone saw the light and it only lasted a few weeks
There was a tearful lady next to an impaled Golf last month in Wymondly......

Speed bumps are a problem too, I can't get the Cerb up Whitehill in Hitchin because of the damn things......

[sparkyhx]

if they are going to have traffic calming - then I prefer chicanes over speed humps, but not when they have a speed hump in them as well.

[HON2A]

It's the self-righteous aggression and road condition blindness generated by "Big White Arrow on My Side" right of way junkies I detest encountering.

[m44kts]

They're a stupid idea, a bus very kindly barged his way through when I had right of way and about 20 yards from the narrow bit. I have no idea how he didn't hit me.

[defblade]

These things kill people - pedal and motor bikers, mainly.

I can't see any excuse for attempting to "calm" traffic by forcing vehicles moving in opposite directions to try and use the same pice of tarmac. With the bext will in the world (and that's leaving out the idiots trying it on one way or another) there will be head-on accidents that simply would not have occured otherwise.

[spogxy]

Anyone remember the apocalypse that Stockport council did a few years back?

They moved the white line from the centre of a main road so that it was 75% to one side. Oncoming traffic then had to negotiate with parked cars that blocked most of their tiny portion of the road! It was repositioned soon after, back to the centre, I hasten to add.

Just to prove they haven't learned a thing they have moved on to Poynton, which recently made it to number 1 on the UK's worst roadworks on BBC Watchdog.

[clived]

Warwick67 said:

Each day I go through Little Wymondly in Hertfordshire, what kind of imbecile thinks putting an obstruction in the middle of the road is going to "calm" traffic.

Having lived pretty much next door to the Bucks Head for a while I feel your pain!