A Little Speed Bump Problem

[Shmee]

Hi all,

A little problem popped up yesterday in the form of:



To explain in more detail, I live on a private road in London where my Aston Vantage is parked in an underground garage with an up ramp that when you drive up the exit this is what is in front of you. You can go tight left and back around the 'in' way but it's the same problem.

I'm not too offended by speed bumps here in general but the problem I'm facing is that these particular ones are so high and steep I don't seem to be able to work out how to get over them without scraping the front.

As I drive up to them the nose goes over by a mere fraction but the problem is that it's such a steep bump that giving it the power to get over means the front is always going to come down with a bang every single time. I tried tight angles, going around the side as much as possible and a few other things but haven't got a solution for dealing with the problem.

Is there anything else people can come up with to get around it or am I going to have to make a complaint? What would you do?



P.S. You'll be disgusted to know I pay £2300 a year for the privilege of a garage space here so I am going to put up a fight if needs be.

P.P.S. Ignore the guy who's parked illegally next to the No Parking sign...

[andy-xr]

10 minutes removing the black bits and job's a good un

[kambites]

I have vague memories that speed humps are allowed to be up to 10cm high. Is it higher?

What about putting a wheel up on the kerb?

[rev-erend]

Firstly write to the local council saying its too high ..

Then send then a bill for repairs ..

[Shmee]

kambites said:

I have vague memories that speed humps are allowed to be up to 10cm high. Is it higher?

Not sure without checking tonight, but presumably being a private road they can make it as high as they like; the things that were there before were much more gentle and tarmac so not a problem - as you can tell it's a newly re-done road a few weeks ago.

[7 Sevens]

I've got the exact same ones at my work car park. 3 sets of them! It's prevented me bringing my Caterham in as once the front wheels go over I land up resting on my sump. Apparently they meet all the official legislation so nothing I can do about them.

[oldcynic]

Can you make use of the pavement on one side or the other?

[Alex]

I don't know why they're called speed bumps; if anything, they slow you down.

[Superhoop]

Alex said:

I don't know why they're called speed bumps; if anything, they slow you down.

Are they not actually called sleeping policemen? With speed bump being a more common, but incorrect name for them?

[oldcynic]

Apparently they are a traffic calming measure. However I have never felt calmer as a result of driving over a series of these lumps!

[T.K]

Have you tried going over backwards slowly?

[AUDIHenry]

I really feel bad for your Brits to be subjected to this sort of a treatment by your nanny government. Speed bumps are instruments of the devil!

[Shmee]

T.K said:

Have you tried going over backwards slowly?

I haven't tried but that would leave me needing to turn around again in the blind entrance before going out onto the main road. I'll give it a go from a grounding out perspective though.

[hombrepaulo]

Mix some cement up and make it more gentle slope?

[Superhoop]

Go and hire a van, then repeatedly drive over them until they start to rip out of the ground.

We have a set of these in our office car park - They lasted about 6 weeks before the first ones ripped out, once the first ones had gone, the others didn't last too long either

They're still there, but the bits that are driven over most often are missing, resulting in a car width gap through the middle of them - It just so happens that the gap is just over a car width wide, so nobody actually has to drive over them anymore, they just drive trough the gap

[AB]

I have a similar problem in work. Roll forward very slowly until front wheels start going up, bit of power until wheels are on top and then down slowly with foot on brake.

I hate speed bumps.

[Chicane-UK]

So even approaching the ramp at an angle results in scraping..? Even like 45 degree? Yes you might need to hog a large portion of the road but... it might get you over!

[Shmee]

AB said:

I have a similar problem in work. Roll forward very slowly until front wheels start going up, bit of power until wheels are on top and then down slowly with foot on brake.

I hate speed bumps.

Sadly I have the Aston Sportshift SMG gearbox so especially from cold it's exceptionally hard to be that precise, read that as impossible.

Chicane-UK said:

So even approaching the ramp at an angle results in scraping..? Even like 45 degree? Yes you might need to hog a large portion of the road but... it might get you over!

I certainly need to do more investigation work tonight, I think there's a chance it may work.

[oldcynic]

2 wheels on the pavement?

[Caulkhead]

AUDIHenry said:

I really feel bad for your Brits to be subjected to this sort of a treatment by your nanny government. Speed bumps are instruments of the devil!

Two things:

1) Which part of 'Private Road' didn't translate well into Merkin?

2) There were plenty of speed bumps in LA when I lived in Huntingdon Beach a decade ago and apparently there still are:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29300710@N08/34799027...