What is it with speed humps? UK only?

Question

Why is it that our Councils are still laying more of these damn things when they have not resulted in a drop in accidents? Barnet council removed all of them and accidents FELL by 4%! SO we don't need them they cause noise pollution,co2 pollution rises and structural damage to vehicles. Your views please?

Answer 1

speed humps, well i have seen people on peddle cycles using them to to take off like Eddie kid.

beside the damage to all vehicles, they are no good to fire, ambulance and police vehicles and most certainly not to ambulances carrying a spinal injury. they make travelling very painful for people with back problems and other medical problems.

in fact all the speed humps i have seen in my home town are all different sizes and heights, so it is impossible to hit the speed hump square on, and this is made worst by parked cars on the road.

it cost money to put them in and it will cost money to remove them, we can't win with the speed humps.

Answer 2

UK only? Do you have the market on speed bumps? It happens there for the same reason it happens here. People drive too fast down residential streets, and the people who live there complain. The councils are afraid of losing the vote of the people, so they allow the speed bumps which shows they are doing something, and they keep getting put back in office. The fact that they damage vehicles, and don't reduce accident numbers is totally beside the point. In fact they may be liable for repairing any vehicle damaged going over their speed bump if they haven't gone into the mode of requiring more than 50% of the residents to ask for the speed bump before it goes in. That way they can deny claims and tell the person to go against the ones who requested the speed bump in the first place.

Answer 3

We call them "speed bumps" in California, but I think "humps" is a better description. All this summer I rode to school on a bus that had to pass over a speed bumped residential neighborhood. And I think there is a point here: trucks and other people who can choose a different route will do so because of the speed bumps. Only the bus, which has a route chosen for access to the neighborhood, goes through there. Others go to and from, but not through. Much, much less traffic. And the tourists who would be the most likely ones to go through on their way to and from the beach/surf areas tend to go slow enough anyway. Joyriding teenagers late at night avoid it, for the most part, or damage their vehicles in the process of (sorry) yahooing through the neighborhood.

Face it, they clearly seem to work in the right places.

Answer 4

Like a lady in high heels a lowered car may look sexy (that's a matter of opinion) but they're totally useless in many every day practical situations. Apart from the tweaking to your car which may or may not be illegal the only time you were outside the law was during your 'hasty getaway'. The police are much more likely to take an interest in someone trying to do a runner in a tarted up cop magnet than somebody driving normally. Your main fault was misjudging the speed of the approaching police car. I suggest you, like many others, could do with brushing up on the 'Who has priority' section of the highway code.

Answer 5

I agree they are a pain in the neck, where i live the council's andwer was " they are there to assist the police with joyriders and to lower speeds in reidential areas to cut down on juvenille accidents" hmm well ok if you was a joyrider in someone else's car that you had stole would you be bothered about damaging it ? as for the juvenile accidents ok but shouldnt parents know where their kids are at all times ? there are many other dangers apart from cars and as for the damage they cause to the enironment and vehicles as well it seems like the only winnner is the contractors that lay them !

Answer 6

It is not only in the UK , regretfully we have them in Brazil‘s
largest City, São Paulo. Plus radar for not slowing down.
The damned things break your springs, get you fined if
you don‘t slow down, and finally mugged or raped and, if
released without having your car stolen, all documents and
credit cards are taken. There is a law forbidding these humps,
but in São Paulo this law is not respected. The above threats
naturally become a mug norm after midnight and the authorities
know about it, so it becomes "fine time" and lots of money in
the Municipal Transit Department. Better to give or die.

I am a Glasgow Boy (elderly) so I know both sides of the story.
Simply put for us, my wife and I just don‘t go out after 20:00.
Sorry, forgot to tell you guys that you also could get kidnapped
if you slow down on the humps! Want more? Come here and
see for yourself, but I advise you to believe my words and not
to come. I pray for the day that I am able to return to Glasgow.

Answer 7

I absolutely agree, I feel very strongly about this. I find them an absolute pain in the neck. I always slow down a lot for them because I like to look after my vehicle and I feel like I am holding people up which makes me a more erratic driver as I speed up more between them. They are stupid, Does any-one know of any viable alternatives?
Edited answer-Has any-one ever wondered about emergency vehicles like police, fire and ambulance who obviously won't slow down for bumps, I wonder how damaged some of these vehicles get?

Answer 8

Hate em. In a cheap car though they can be fun, drive at high speed and hit them and you can lift off!! I really love those traffic islands they like to put in the middle of the road, especially if they put a bend in the road too. One minute the Council wants to slow us all down the next they are putting an obstacle track on the public roads for us!!! They dunno what they're doing do they!!!

Answer 9

I think drivers had these things coming to them with their speeding through neighborhoods. I see them as a last resort but necessary in many neighborhoods. I think the one thing that needs to be changed is that there is less of an impact when going the posted speed limit. Often you have to slow to 10mph to glide over them.

Answer 10

I couldn't agree more, and if anything I think they can cause more problems, especially if you don't realise they are there. I was on a bus recently stood at the front waiting for it to stop to let me off, and it went flying over a speed bump, which couldn't be seen because it was dark, and I nearly went flying through the windscreen!