Anyone else seen the bumps on routes through Weldon near Corby? My first experience of this type and what a nightmare.
Normally I can't get that worked up about the things but these at real cat-killers. They are perhaps a couple of metres long and a narrow width about the same or a little less than the track of many cars. Result is that your tyres hardly run over them to lift the car so the underbody etc is exposed to their full height.
The way they are situated the only option to minimise potential damage it to straddle the white line to drive betwen them. People are doing this as they approach the humps and even speeding up to make this gap before pulling to the right side of the road at the last moment.
I will be amazed if they don't cause an accident over the coming months.
MM
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Not sure what to make of this MM - Around here nearly all the speed humps are only about 3-4 feet deep so the front wheels have passed over the hump before the rear wheels do the same. Is the real problem the height of the humps ? Again, here the humps do vary - in fact we complained about a planned 'traffic calming scheme' which was altered to include lower humps which cars don't ground themselves on. Sounds like you're having the same problem and I'd definitely get on to the Local Council about it. If you can kick up a bit of a fuss I'm sure they'll act.
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I didn't know how widespread these as found in Weldon might be...I could be trying to describe something everyone else knew already...I don't get out much ;-)
The main issue with these are that they are not the full width of the road but like a pillow laid lengthways along the road. They are mostly in the middle of the carriageway and narrow enough to pass under some cars without the wheels running on them. If the car wheels miss them and the car isn't lifted at all then I was trying to explain that the underbody is exposed to the full height.
MM
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How long before we see suspensiom raising kits on sale, I wonder?
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.....(evil grin) or get an F-150 and blast over them like they weren't there like I do here (did I say that.....must have me beer goggles on again...)
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>How long before we see suspensiom raising kits on sale, I wonder?
Available since 1955 in a Range of Citroens. Smooths out normal bumps so you just drive over them without noticing too.....
Richard
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Ahh MM nowall is clear. They're called speed cushions I think and they're normally used where traditional humps would be a problem for buses and emergency vehicles. Their width is such that larger vehicles can pass over them with no problems but cars can't. The ones round here aren't all that high so that may be the reason I've never had a problem passing over them. They were put in instead of traditional humps due to pressure from the bus companies and emergency services IIRC. The height and gradient are the key factors which determine how much they affect cars and how much you have to slow down. If you can't drive over them at the intended 'speed rating' without grounding your car I suggest you take it further 'cos the idea is just to slow people down.
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These type of hump have been in use in Northampton (and elsewhere) for years. Unless you have a very low car, and you are good with positioning, there is no need to slow down at all. If your cary is very low then you will have to put one wheel on them to stop scraping the underside. Low cars are usually driven fast so this is no bad thing.
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MM,
Very common in Oxfordshire, in my town they are square 'pillows' or a pink material. So severe that even as 15 mph with one wheel on and one wheel off they give the car (volvo V40 estate) a severe jolt.
The width is narrow enough that straddling the pillow exposes the car underside, but also means that vans/trucks/4*4s are completely
unaffected by them. Cars often take the only possible option and dive for the middle of the road and then back to the left side.
(I think you meant left!)
I think this design came in due to fire and ambulances complaining that speed bumps were affecting emergency response times and they can drive through this design without any effect.
There is quite an uproar here in that quite law abiding drivers (eg 20mph near a playground on a bendy road in a 30mph zone) get their car shaken to bits yet a speeding van/truck can ignore them completely and the boyracer types drive around them.
Ian L.
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Mmm and White Van Man will have the same track as an ambulance!
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I was intrigued to hear that the TRL have produced a new type of road surface that judders the car from side-to-side rather than up and down, to use for speed control.
They stated that as car suspension was becoming more effective they needed to come up with a system working against rather than with the car. They also confirmed that they had not conducted any tests on what damage this might cause to cars, nor were they planning on doing so.
Some councils have already expressed an interest in installing this system, without a care for the damage and potential accidents that may be caused.
So when you find your shock mounts tearing as the suspension components are expanded and contracted widthways (which they aren't designed to do) you know who to blame.
I shall see if I can find the link to this info.
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Yes I've heard of that ND and I'm not sure where either.
DVD has kindly sent me a link that has led me to this...
www.roads.dft.gov.uk/roadnetwork/ditm/tal/traffic/...d
So these cushions in Weldon are not that new an idea then.
MM
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Aaah !
so those are road cushions I bounce over every day !
They are outside a school, and there are a line of 3 abreast directly outside. 100 yards either side of the school, there are installations of two road cushions, of which one is in the middle of the road and one is in the way of drivers heading towards the school. The fairly logical aim of this is to slow down traffic as it approaches the school, but it fails.
It fails because people will actually cross over to the opposite side of the road, and pass on the wrong side of a pedestrian refuge to avoid slowing down for the speed humps. Is it me who has the wrong perspective on reality, or is it them ?
p.s. - does anybody if there is an official set of guidelines for school crossing patrols ?
I have to grow old - but I don't have to grow up
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MM
Not an uncommon site in Wiltshire. I'm always concerned something will ground if I straddle them, esp with the BM. I end up just running one wheel over them, with the other off to one side. This seems a common approach here, apart from cars with large ground clearance. They really do slow you down!
They are usually on roads too narrow to allow clear passage through the middle, so I've not seen anyone straddling the white line down the centre yet!
Regards
John S
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