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Potted histrionics

I read with interest your article about road humps and tyres recently. I live in the lovely village of Ickleford and Hertfordshire Highways are about to install 11 road humps over less than a 1-mile stretch of road in the name of safety even though actual injury accident rates are incredibly low (1 in 2009, 8 in the last 3 years). All these incidents were slight injury crashes with the exception of one where an 81 year old crashed his car into parked vehicles and was not wearing a seat belt. We believe this "solution" is completely unnecessary and will actually make Ickleford more dangerous. We have setup a comprehensive website at www.mostsimply.com where locals have signed petitions and in just a few weeks have gained over 500 supporters. If possible, we would be very grateful if you could have a look at our website as we value your opinion and advice. We have publicised it very well in the village, but with over 50,000 vehicles through the village every week, this decision impacts massively on the wider community.

Asked on 12 June 2010 by AJ, Ickleford

Answered by Honest John
I had a look at www.mostsimply.com . I'd suggest that potholes are reported via www.fixmystreet.co.uk , so then there is an independent record of the pothole having been reported for evidential purposes. There is now visible evidence that speed humps and speed cushions ('pothills') actually increase damage to the road surface around them from the shocks of the vehicles bouncing up, then coming down hard on the surface either side. I have seen speed cushions with potholes in and around them because of this. There is no doubt that someone somewhere has got hold of a budget from central government to install these dangerous obstructions instead of spending the money repairing pot holes. So some contractor somewhere is raking it in.
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