Safe Speed Forums

Couple of things;
I've been hit from behind twice and suffered whiplash and they still cause pain under certain conditions - specifically speed bumps, potholes, rumble strips and the weather also I've had kidney stones as well - guess what? that hurts as well.
This at any speed you like between indicated 10 to 50 mph.
This is a distraction especially if the impact starts the pain off.

I live in Suffolk and the county council worthies have recently implemented a new scheme whereby the footpath and road are at the same level - great for the blind. The project manager just dismisses protests.

In the same scheme they have narrowed roads and added build outs.

I saw a lorry yesterday have a lot of grief trying to negotiate a bend with a pelican crossing, traffic ramps and loads of suicidal pedestrians who clearly had no idea about the space needed to get round the obstacle course.

14 million pounds of taxpayers money wasted - other roads still have potholes, poorly painted lines etc

and join the club, I think you’ll like it here if you stick around.

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Useless laws weaken necessary laws.

Several posters here have asked the question "what is the point of speed-bumps". That they should even ask the question is rather sad, but to think they might actually not know the answer is really quite tragic!
They exist in order that others that do not drive may also exist in the same street. Try crossing a rat-run street with kids, and you will understand. It might seem odd to those that want to rush through residential areas, but yes, other people actually exist. Some of them infirm and a little slow in body or wit, others (go forbid) may even be children (how crazy is that - allowing children to exist outside the house, and NO I do not mean toddlers).
No-one really like speed bumps but the alternative is to allow drivers the freedom to nip through at speed (and at times 30mph is too fast), while removing the freedom of movement to many others. It's a simple choice really, and it is solely the drivers that have caused the need for speed bumps.
See, quite easy to understand when you think about it rather than just rant on

Oh, wait a minute - I forgot. It is up to everyone else to watch out they don't fall foul of a simple mistake - and if any kids make a simple error of judgement, well that's entirely their own fault so there. That is the motorists' moto isn't it??

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Always remember; It is not possible to reach a destination if you do not travel fast!

Or to put it another way, if the main roads were adequate, there would be no desire to use rat runs.

It's back to good old carrot and stick, I fear. Transport policy today is all the latter and none of the former.

I think I'd prefer pedestrian crossings to road humps.
Even those hideuos puffin crossings.
At least you can ignore them when they stay on red for far too long after everyone has finished crossing.

Road humps damage cars so they are less safe if an accident happens later on.
They increas the amount of rapid acceleration and noise outside people's homes.

But I'm sure I've said all this before.

I never saw a single road hump in Florida.

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Andrew.

Quite!

"Rat Runs" are a direct consequcense of the DfT's failure to keep the roads up to date.

It wasnt always like this! 30 years ago we had some of the best roads in Europe. Trouble is it all stopped back then and we are still having to use the same roads! Every else has moved on and kept up! Our "Lords & Masters" have done BA in terms of major highway construction since (Pretty much) the 60's

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"The road to a police state is paved with public safety legislation"

We have a huge shopping centre locally and I had always used it for almost all my shopping needs. It had a few speed humps, with reasonable ramping, and although you needed to keep at or below 20mph (big car park with wide road sections) I never saw it as a problem as that speed or less seemed appropriate for most of the time.

Then they installed the dreaded "toblerones" that are so vicious that I need to almost come to a complete stop to negotiate them without bottoming the car - seriously, 5mph would result in a resounding thump under the car.

So now I shop elsewhere unless I absolutely have to shop there.

The benefit is that I have discovered several small local centres that cater for most of my needs, the negative is that they are not all in one place.

The only real losers are the shop keepers at the major shopping centre, although they still seem just as busy without my patronage judging from the car park as I drive past.

I also agree wholeheartedly with an earlier post about changing the drivers focus from the sides of the roads to the humps. I honestly believe they are more likely to increase the risk to pedestrians rather than to reduce it.

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Ross

Yes I'm a hoon, but only on the track!!!!

Agree absolutely, build a road then stick lumps in it - brilliant.

Agree absolutely, build a road then stick lumps in it - brilliant.

Rat runs have formed in my local area as a result of resignalling the local traffic light junction, making congestion and journey times significantly worse. People now use four alternative routes to avoid the junction, two of which have speed cushions, and three of the roads are predominantly residential and not designed for such through traffic.

I aired my view to the local councillor pleading for alterations to the new layout such as removing the protected right turns and altering timings, but he didn't want to listen, even though rat running is becoming a serious issue. £350,000 on making traffic flow worse... and making everybody's lives worse, apart from the niche flow of pedestrians who use the crossings. Having carried out my own traffic surveys for A-level geography coursework I found this junction to be perfectly adequate, whereas in the High Street there was only one pedestrian crossing with dropped kerbs (woefully inadequate).

I've had 3 tyres put on my co. mondeo today due to uneven tyre wear that the garage said is caused by speed bumps knocking the tracking out on an increasing number of cars. It's going in on Wednesday for a full 4 wheel alignment to get it sorted.

Will you be sending the council the bill?

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Andrew.

30 years ago I remember rat-running too. In fact even though I was only 11 I knew quite a number of little rat-runs myself when my parents were driving.

The reason many rat-runs are better is fewer traffic lights and often no buses, plus the roads through town-centres (or suburban centres) which are usually the A-classified road are generally busy with people parking in the street or loading/unloading.

A good example of where this is not the case and where it works well is St John's Wood, NW8. The main "high street" is actually an unclassified back-road whereas the main A-road (Wellington Road) has nothing (ok a hotel, a hospital and a cricket ground which are both actually just off the main road).