Anyone else sick of speed ramps and traffic calming?

[andrew1]

I live in a borough where there seems to be an obsession by council to put road humps, sleeping policemen, or traffic calming devices on every single road they can find. We have a main road nearby which is about a quarter of a mile long, you couldn't speed down anyway as it's generally always busy, but this road, being almost the last in the borough untouched by these vandals and control freaks have just begun putting those tarmac squares across the road.

 

My car has firm suspension admittedly, but every time I venture over one of these things my back tenses up as I pray it doesn't send another shudder through my body.

 

Why oh why can't these control freaks allow people to use their common sense to drive without dictating every last twist and turn we make on the steering wheel.

 

For those less fit than me, these humps must be a nightmare, anyone with back issues must dread them and ambulances carrying patients to hospitals especially when they may have neck or back injured patients aboard must curse their very existence like I do.

 

I think it was our Boris who said Councils must find other ways of traffic calming than these things, but councils, rather than putting the tarmac to its proper use and filling the thousands of holes in the roads, use it to fit even more of these wretched things.

 

How do we stop this reckless spending of council tax or road tax (wherever the money comes from)?

 

I hate them with a passion!

[dx100uk]

How do we stop this reckless spending of council tax or road tax (wherever the money comes from)?

 

by educating people not to speed.

shows total disregard for other road users and alike.

 

if people didn't speed, there would be no need for them.

 

dx

[pompeyfaith]

where i live they have humps that dont go right across the road and they are useless and serve no purpose at all drivers still speed

[andrew1]

How do we stop this reckless spending of council tax or road tax (wherever the money comes from)?

 

by educating people not to speed.

shows total disregard for other road users and alike.

 

if people didn't speed, there would be no need for them.

 

dx

 

I've been driving for 40 yrs so I guess I'm a little more disciplined myself now, but I tend to be more attentive to a board which flashes up a '30' in lights if anyone happens to be exceeding that than I do to those humps.

 

I fully understand the fact that there are roads which need controls, no question about it, but the configeration of some of these things makes me naturally go into a dangerous road position.

 

For example; a fairly wide b road, residential, enough space for large vehicles to pass one another in either direction. 3 'square humps placed across the complete width of the road, it is natural to line the car up with wheels catching the edges of the hump so that the central highest point is square under the engine, that theoretically provides the least friction through the car as I drive over it. IF I find cars parked near to them then to obtain the least friction of going over the highest point of the hump with my wheel I opt for the next hump beside it which is placed half on one side of the road and half on the other slap bang center of the complete width of the road. To centre the car up means I have to pull the car over onto the wrong side of the road when often I have to judge the distance of the oncoming car hoping I can get across centrally before he arrives. It doesn't make any sense to make a driver take the next best option to being shaken to bits by using the 2nd hump and it could cause an accident.

 

Now I appreciate one might argue if I drove slower I could just go over the first hump slower as they are designed to do, but I do not drive fast anyway. There is also invariably another car right up my rear hurrying me along and on my bumper so not only am I being distracted by the damned humps I am thinking about the car behind too and missing the oncoming cars.

 

Another thing is that as there are so many of these humps these days, the minute I do get onto an open stretch of road it's almost an invitation to go back to driving properly and relax with even more speed.

 

There must be other ways than this to regulate flows and to spend far less money on trying to control everything in this life we do.

 

I understand many people reading this will know of someone who may have been injured by speeding cars, but my sister was knocked off her bike by a guy on his mobile phone whilst driving - no-one stops these people and I see hundreds of people driving while on the phone.

[dx100uk]

what a lovely constructed and written post.

 

as with all you have pointed out, particularly the issue of mobile phones.

 

its a really sad inditement of todays society that people cannot be trusted to drive in a responsible manner toward others.

 

sadly, this country really has a serious problem in this aspect.

 

dx

Edited February 2, 2009 by dx100uk
typo

[andrew1]

what a lovely constructed and written post.

 

as with all you have pointed out, particularly the issue of mobile phones.

 

its a really sad inditement of todays society that people cannot be trusted to drive in a responsible manner toward others.

 

sadly, this country really has a serious problem in this aspect.

 

dx

 

Thank you for that.

 

Might I offer an explanation as to why we are treated as though we might not be trusted?

 

Rebellion at being monitored , watched and controlled in everything we do...we are like animals in many ways, we like and respect our freedom.

[dx100uk]

aw now you've burst my bubble.....

 

i can't quite honestly see that being monitored & controlled compels people to speed & use a mobile phones just to show they can get away with it, so its useless monitoring me 'cause you cant stop me doing it all the time?

 

the consequences:Text Death Crash Driver Philippa Curtis Jailed Over Victoria McBryde Death | UK News | Sky News

 

 

bit like the age old cry when stopped by the traffic police for speeding of 'why don't you do something useful like catch a kiddy fiddler'

 

urm....

 

lets get rid of all the cameras and traffic police, as long as there is one waiting for when i need them........

 

nuff said

 

dx

Edited February 3, 2009 by dx100uk
link added

[andrew1]

aw now you've burst my bubble.....

 

i can't quite honestly see that being monitored & controlled compels people to speed & use a mobile phones just to show they can get away with it, so its useless monitoring me 'cause you cant stop me doing it all the time?

 

the consequences:Text Death Crash Driver Philippa Curtis Jailed Over Victoria McBryde Death | UK News | Sky News

 

 

bit like the age old cry when stopped by the traffic police for speeding of 'why don't you do something useful like catch a kiddy fiddler'

 

urm....

 

lets get rid of all the cameras and traffic police, as long as there is one waiting for when i need them........

 

nuff said

 

dx

 

It is said that "when in a hole one must stop digging" so I'll stop digging. I realise this can be emotive when dealing with justifying speeding and nobody can justify it and I agree totally with what you say here. I am not advocating the necessity or justification of speeding, I just find the necessity to install traffic calming measures in the form of road humps on a wholesale basis going beyond the realms of 'necessity' and into the realms of 'control'.

 

I live on a private estate where the humps have been installed for years as non estate residing individuals use the roads as a bypass or rat run to avoid the village. Speed control is often not their priority. However, I find on public roads, especially ones that would be difficult to speed on anyway, a necessity for these things a total waste of money, counter productive as they cause more congestion through constant stopping to negotiate them,accidents as previously described, they damage peoples health especially as they are routes constantly used by ambulances, busses and the general public and I feel these council workers are on some kind of mission to install as many as they can wherever they can and I'd rather see the tarmac used to 'fill' holes rather than create further obsticles.

 

The obvious benefits on roads where speeding is a problem, outside schools, black spots and the likes I have no difficulties with whatsoever and I am sure they have saved many a life in those instances. As I say, there is no justification for speeding and I'm on no so box for encouraging speeding motorists, but I am aware, every time I go over one of these humps that someone in a council has decided that for whatever reason they think they want to control what I do over that patch of road and it is that which I object to when it is obvious that it has no benefit to that stretch of road whatsoever.

 

I have the same feelings of waste about useless and pointless street furniture councils spend our council tax on, but that's for another day

[dx100uk]

trouble with all this anti speed hump thing, is councils can't just 'decide' where they are put and just do it on a whim.

they must have a justifiable reason which must be linked to a known safety issue [school, residential area, etc etc] to do so and it has to go through several agencies, inc the likes of the highways commision, and be approved.

 

if you're that way inclined, you can view the planning application at your local town hall.

they are all on record.

 

dx

[Elelbee]

There is questionable legality involved if the road calming measures force you to speeds much lower than the limit. Unfortunately the likelihood is that if you complain, they're more likely to lower the limit than remove the speed bumps.

 

I consider myself a healthy mix of pedestrian, bus passenger and driver and on the whole roads (in London) are a nightmare - for all three.

 

One thing about my area that really bugs me are speed bumps on roads that buses go down - why? Heaven help you if you're a standing passenger. The buses can barely clear them.

 

I can understand road calming measures on smaller roads, or places with lots of pedestrians, near school etc, but my council has gone nuts with it. They closed off my road to through traffic, then when they relaid the road - put speed bumps back in! Nobody even uses my road!

 

I think a lot of it is to do with using up their budget so that it won't be cut next year.

 

One thing I don't think anyone's noted yet is that speed limits are often unrealistic. It's fine to make all residential roads 20mph, but there are many A-roads which could comfortably take 40mph, yet are still 30mph. It seems as though speed limits only go one way.

 

Do the council take into account the environmental effect of having all these cars chugging along so slowly?

 

All in all, considering the rage it provokes, you have to laugh at the fact it's called 'traffic calming'