Traffic calming
 

When I take my grandson to nursery school we have to drive over half a mile down a road with a 30 mph speed limit which has traffic calming humps at very frequent intervals. Thes humps are square, one on each side of the road. If you try to drive over them at under 30 mph in a car you get jolted very badly no matter how slow you go. This is very painful for someone with back problems.

Do these humps slow down traffic? No, they do quite the opposite. Motorbikes just drive at ridiculous speeds in the centre of the road in the gap between the humps. Large lorries have a wheelbase wide enough to avoid them having to put a wheel on the humps. Most car drivers, particularly the locals, drive like a bat out of hell over the humps saying the faster you go, the less you feel them.

I wonder what the legal position is if you claim compensation for injury to your back or damage to your vehicle as a result of having to drive over these humps?

Re: Traffic calming
 

Dont know about trafic calming.... They make be beedin furious :D

I think that these speed humps are disighned to let ambulance's ect over. They do jolt you around a bit.. I know how you feel there being a fellow back pain sufferer :(

I wonder if they have ever been taken to court over this ? There is allos the damage to the car suspention to take into consideration !

Re: Traffic calming
 

But surely the answer would be, if you were travelling at a reasonable speed, you would not be jolted around, nor would there be any damage to the car?

..but personally I do think these speed bumps are dangerous - since a lot of drives slow down for the humps and then speed up drastically - to make up for the 'lost time' inbetween the bumps.

Also, alot of the 'normal' speed bumps, i.e. ones that spread all the way across the road - end up meaning that ambulances etc, end up having to go slow - which isn't that useful if it's an emergency.

I seem to remember the head of the ambulance service was on TV not so long ago, saying they kill more people (as a knock on effect) than they save?

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They also cause more pollution due to the revving up after each hump :(

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You obviously haven't been over the humps that I am talking about. No way can you drive over the at less than 30 mph without getting jolted around, even if you try only doing 5 mph.

These humps are dangerous for a variety of reasons. The average speed of many vehicles is well over 30 mph. You get the odd driver who absolutely crawls over the humps, nearly always followed by an impatient driver who risks his life and others by trying to overtake the slow car in aplace where no sane person would risk it. Many drivers drive along in a normal manner and then swerve out so that their offside wheels are in the gap in the centre of the road which is a very close shave if a car going the other way does rthe same.

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Sorry, I think you misunderstood me, I'm just saying that if you tried for compenstation or whatever, that would be the answer from the court/council? - as I say, I don't think they help at all?

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Any changes to a road by a council need to be set within strict health and safety guidelines, this includes maintanence. This explains why roadwork take such a long time to complete: they need to be sure the roads are safe.

Speed bumps also need to be kept within certain guidelines. As long as they are, say 8 inches (I'm not sure of the exact figure) high then driving over them at a safe speed should not cause any injury or damage. This is taken in to account by the insurance companies if you then chose to make such a claim.

Re: Traffic calming
 

Try & dig up the regulations for them, the angle of the ramp etc.

Re: Traffic calming
 

taken from http://www.bromleytransport.org.uk/L...ic_calming.htm which has links to the regulations.

http://www.hmso.gov.uk/si/si1999/19991025.htm gives the proper regs.

Get your tape measure out!

Re: Traffic calming
 

Once upon a time it was an offence to obstruct the road, yet that is what "traffic calming" does.

As for design restictions on humps, I can negotiate one hump that I go past virtually every day, supposedly checked after installation as correct, and yet the front of my car will ground out on the road, even if I'm doing less only 10mph :(

One busy road near us has a system of chicanes. Great. Now all the boy racers see it as a challenge as to how fast you can negotiate them. The average speed in that road is probably still 35mph despite the efforts of the traffic planners.

Near me a small shopping parade had its own service road in front of it, set back from the main road. It offered parking for about 5 cars, meanwhile when the shops had deliveries, the vans double parked in the service road, without obstructing the main road. The council thought this was a bit off, so they got rid of the service road, and created a 3 space layby instead from the main road. 2 parking spaces lost, so the shops have less custom. Meanwhile delivery vans now still double park, but in the main road, so bunging up the high street, and creating hazards as drivers try to get past, yet can't see properly because of a bend.

It's simple these things are a menace. In fact all traffic calming is. All it does is restrict traffic flows and creates bottlenecks so that the average driver then goes faster, often too fast, the moment they see a hint of not so open road. How much money has been wasted on these schemes that don't work? :mad:

Re: Traffic calming
 

One of the best guides to traffic calming is at http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/group...ds_504796.hcsp

It doesn't really matter what the regulations say, its the effect that the calming has on raod speeds, vehicle condition and vehicle occupants health that is important.

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If memory serves, people have succesfully sued their councils for damage to their backs from speed humps.

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Have they, then this must be the reason that I currently have a bad back, better go out later & look for some nasty bumps to go over..lol

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in derby we have successfully hounded and petitioned our council and got our speed humps removed , they were the same ones ianuth described.........it ended up with the council removing the humps and putting up speed camera signs , cameras going up at a later date........victory for the taxpayers
however as a motorcyclist as well as a driver i have to say ianuths description of speeding bikers going between the humps is a bit off because going between them at 30mph may seem fast to a car driver who is going over them at 5mph......(and i did both)
the humps were there to slow down speeding cars not to impede motorcyclists doing the speed limit

Re: Traffic calming
 

What is there to slow the speeding motorcyclist down then that doesn't impede the car driver doing the speed limit? The only motorcyclists that I see driving below the speed limit are the ones with "L" plates following an instructor or the ones near a police car. I have never seen a car doing wheelies past a speed camera whilst doing over the limit but have seen many bikers doing this.

Re: Traffic calming
 

Possibly because it's very difficult to do a wheelie in a car without some expensive modifications...! :angel:

Re: Traffic calming
 

LOL..... You have a point there m8 :D

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And because your looking out for the next speed bump (normally just around a blind corner or hidden behind the lorry parked half on it) your not concentrating on the kids playing football who run out in front of you.....:erm:

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About a month or so ago, My exhaust was banged on the bottom of a speedbump around my area.. Must of been loose or something, because it was hanging off, and had to have it re-welded on.. Was gonna contact council or whoever, as I wasnt go fast (About 10mph), but had a full car (5 people in a fiesta :eek:).. But ended up never bothering as my cousin thought it was no use.

As someone said above, im the type of driver that'l slow down for the Speedbump, then Speed up inbetween.. which I guess is more dangerous than having them therein the first place!

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I have a speed table right outside my house & its really annoying the number of cars & wagons that speed up to go over it, I am often finding the odd bolt, nut, car/wagon bit because of this.

Every time I hear a "crash" I have to get up & peer outside in case ite either an accident & I can do the local hero bit or they have hit my car...lol

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I hope you mean an exhaust bracket was welded back on not the exhaust itself :Yikes:

Now got a mental picture of you taking the car into Kwikfit for an exhaust change and them yanking it off and the whole underside of the car falling on them.

:) :D

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Not read all the replies yet. But traffic calming does not work. Humps just cause hassle to cars and all you see is folk hitting the gas then the brakes, not driving at a safe constant speed.

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What a lot of people do not realise is that these speed humps also cause a lot of misery for those that live next to them. It is not just the noise of rattly wagons going over them but also the noise of all vehicles accelerating away after having to slow down to go over them.
For some people it is simply too much to bear........
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/o...re/3161840.stm

Not so long ago there was talk of many speed humps having to be ripped up because of new laws about lowering the step height of buses (which would make it impossible for the new buses to go over them). I've not heard any more about that.

The current trend now is to introduce bollards. These can be lit ones on a raised on a kerbed platform centrally in the road or unlit ones (often black!)jutting out from the side of the road on a kerb. Also they narrow the road with painted markings (rather than the more expensive and much more useful idea of widening the pavement and/or providing decicated kerbside parking)
These bollards solve the usual hump damage problems etc but vehicles still make more noise by accelerating away after negotiating the obsticle (assuming the light on the centrally placed bollard has not gone out or been vandalised and you have not wrecked your expensive wheel rims on the bollard's kerb)

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Ah the dreaded Carsic estate in Sutton In Ashfield, it's the scurge of Taxi Drivers in that area. It's true what they say, drive over them fast and you feel them less. I do it.

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All types of speed bump irritate but those square ones infuriate me.

I drive a very narrow van with small wheels. Sometimes, if the road is wide enough, I can drive down the middle and feel only a little bump. But most of the time have to take them full on with no benefit from the ramps either side. Now, with small wheels and a stiff suspension I can't do anything more than 10mph without everything in the back taking off. Rarely will a driver stay behind me for more than a couple of bumps before overtaking - usually with an irritated harrumph expression.

Okay, they will not impede the flow of emergency vehicles but only because the tend to be large and have large wheels. These square bumps simply discriminate in favour of wide-wheelbased and large-wheeled vehicles. Why do aggresively driven 4x4s immediately spring to mind?. IMHO, square speed bumps simpy do not work.

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That's the place. I always have to laugh at the name.
:)

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I find the best way to handle speed bumps is to drive at a constant 25 -30 mph along the road but agree they are a nuisance.

The thing is though, how do you make people drive slowly in built up areas? If the bumps are removed some drivers are sure to speed. If speed cameras are put up instead of bumps then the authorities are accused of putting them there to raise revenue. Can anyone make suggestions for effective speed control that everyone would be happy with? It's very often no good leaving it up the sensibility of the motorist.

Re: Traffic calming
 

Block off the 'rat runs'.Most of them are residential streets that if one end is blocked off it makes the drivers who are using it for access(and driving too fast) just go find another access route.Won't be possible for every 'rat run' but it will work for the majority.Otherwise humps and chicanes are all that I can think of.