Deleted member 66701
Deleted member 66701
Earth to snowdog - isn't that the point of speed bumps - i.e. to slow the cars BELOW the posted speed limit - often to walking pace?
Can anything be done about speed bumps?
- Thread starter ubersonic
- Start date
Earth to snowdog - isn't that the point of speed bumps - i.e. to slow the cars BELOW the posted speed limit - often to walking pace?
That is just utter rubbish!
You can drive up a 125mm kerb going crawling pace without doing any of that damage!!!
As has been said by others and now myself, unless your car is made of cheese or your going for air as your quote implies, travelling over a ramped hump at a reasonable speed for the situation will do no damage to your car even if the hump is slightly higher than standard.
@ snowdog - I assume you hold the 60mph NSL through hairpin bends when your driving as opposed to slowing down for the hazard? Speed bumps are there to slow you down regardless of indicated speed limit.
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If that is the point then the person who thought that point up should be punched in the face, hard
.150mm is illegal so those shouldn't ever exist. If they do, write to the council and they will have to dig it up pretty sharpish.
The max height is 100mm and there is a recommendation that no more than 75mm is used.
Given that the standard ride height of a Lotus Elise such as mine is 130mm I'm really surprised that average joe type cars have even the remotest of issues on speed humps
150mm is illegal so those shouldn't ever exist. If they do, write to the council and they will have to dig it up pretty sharpish.
The max height is 100mm and there is a recommendation that no more than 75mm is used.
Given that the standard ride height of a Lotus Elise such as mine is 130mm I'm really surprised that average joe type cars have even the remotest of issues on speed humps
Doesn't seem to be sinking in lol! I drive a lowered car and have no problem dealing with them either.
The general public like to get militant and self certify themselves as highway engineers and think they are experts about anything to do with highways.
They moan if your fixing/improving public highway because they are delayed by 10 mins on their way to work or have speed bumps installed etc and on the other hand the same person will also moan like hell when there's potholes, people are speeding past their house or someone gets knocked over.
You can't win!
We have them all over here too. I hate them.
I did write to my MP, not that it did a lot of good, but it made me feel better.
My suggestion would be that you inundate your local MPs with calls to STOP BUILDING THE BLOODY THINGS!
I did write to my MP, not that it did a lot of good, but it made me feel better.
My suggestion would be that you inundate your local MPs with calls to STOP BUILDING THE BLOODY THINGS!
My Capri is completely standard ride height wise, yet the ones they have near where my mum used to live I can't physically get over with any passengers in the car, and even without the exhaust scrapes.
And yes I do floor it between the humps as I have to crawl over them at a ridiculous speed, rather than sitting at a nice leisurely 30.
And yes I do floor it between the humps as I have to crawl over them at a ridiculous speed, rather than sitting at a nice leisurely 30.
ubersonic, is it a speed bump, or a raised crossing?
It sounds very similar to what they did in our town, several of the zebra crossings in a busy 20 limit got the crossing area raised to near the height of the pavement for about 5+ metres.
I suspect it's covered under different regs to "speed bumps" if the height is raised for a continuous section long enough for the car to have at least one set of wheels on it at all times whilst crossing it.
I had my doubts about them at first, but they are a lot less brutal on the car than the normal bumps even if they might be slightly higher, as your front wheels don't leave it until after the rear wheels have also gone on it (so rather than it being a rapid /\/\ it's more a /***\ if that makes sense). I much prefer this style than normal ones.
Jegs, are you a highway planner or something?
And if so is there a different rule for raised crossings to speed bumps for heights?
It sounds very similar to what they did in our town, several of the zebra crossings in a busy 20 limit got the crossing area raised to near the height of the pavement for about 5+ metres.
I suspect it's covered under different regs to "speed bumps" if the height is raised for a continuous section long enough for the car to have at least one set of wheels on it at all times whilst crossing it.
I had my doubts about them at first, but they are a lot less brutal on the car than the normal bumps even if they might be slightly higher, as your front wheels don't leave it until after the rear wheels have also gone on it (so rather than it being a rapid /\/\ it's more a /***\ if that makes sense). I much prefer this style than normal ones.
Jegs, are you a highway planner or something?
And if so is there a different rule for raised crossings to speed bumps for heights?
This is a 30mph zone, you should not have to slow to <10mph in a 30mph zone in order to negate a speed hump.
4.5.28 Vehicles travelling over road humps at appropriate speeds should not suffer damage, provided the humps conform to the Highways (Road Hump) Regulations.
This is one of the downside to speed humps they are known to greatly increase emissions on a road.
According to the regulations a raised crossing is a type of speed hump and must comply with the law also.
Given that the standard ride height of a Lotus Elise such as mine is 130mm I'm really surprised that average joe type cars have even the remotest of issues on speed humps
My Z4 would scrape the front splitter on our local speed bumps if you were still braking at all, so you had to brake before them and then accellerate to avoid any damage. Of course try explaining this to a woman, hence I had a very scruffy front splitter by the time I got rid of it.
Other cars I've had problems with are my old 3.0S Capri (exhaust) and my mk1 Escort I damaged the sump and always had a nice 'schinnnng' noise as my exhaust scraped over.
Also is it a coincidence that in the past 10-15 years I've had quite a few cars with broken springs, something that never happened when I originally drove despite driving the car a lot more harshly.
They are a liability.
Sounds like you've had a bit of a nightmare there.
From my experience, considerate drivers drive considerately whereas n0bs will always drive like n0bs - so putting a bigger bump there isn't going to stop the idiots.
I hope there is something that can be done about it.
I really hate those 'cobble' style bumps you get - which don't look like much but really annoy you in a car with a stiff suspension. Councils hate motorists.
From my experience, considerate drivers drive considerately whereas n0bs will always drive like n0bs - so putting a bigger bump there isn't going to stop the idiots.
I hope there is something that can be done about it.
I really hate those 'cobble' style bumps you get - which don't look like much but really annoy you in a car with a stiff suspension. Councils hate motorists.
Soldato
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The worst bumps by far are the ones with gaps so that emergency vehicles can go full speed over them. (I think that's the reasoning anyway... ??)
A) Cars will pretty much always be parked at the side of the road by them, ruining the whole idea...
B) All of them seem too high, as they can strike the underside of all cars that I have observed.
C) Due to having to slow down too much, then you'll find that people floor it after going over them. This is awesomely safe. I can understand why it happens though...
In the Legnum I find that I have to slow down to about 5-ish to get over any speed bump in Aberdeen. I also have to drive all over the road so I can hit them at the correct angle... :| Hit it at the wrong angle and you'll hear the awesome noise of scraping plastic or metal...
Far more likely to kill the theoretical child whilst I'm fannying about trying to negotiate speed bumps, than I am driving in a straight line at 20mph...
Advice to the OP. Build JCB out of keyboards.
A) Cars will pretty much always be parked at the side of the road by them, ruining the whole idea...
B) All of them seem too high, as they can strike the underside of all cars that I have observed.
C) Due to having to slow down too much, then you'll find that people floor it after going over them. This is awesomely safe. I can understand why it happens though...
In the Legnum I find that I have to slow down to about 5-ish to get over any speed bump in Aberdeen. I also have to drive all over the road so I can hit them at the correct angle... :| Hit it at the wrong angle and you'll hear the awesome noise of scraping plastic or metal...
Far more likely to kill the theoretical child whilst I'm fannying about trying to negotiate speed bumps, than I am driving in a straight line at 20mph...
Advice to the OP. Build JCB out of keyboards.
Those type are called speed cushions and should be no higher than 75mm, they were originally used in East Germany, so by installing them our government is promoting communism :O
The key is in the appropriate speed part. The speed limit is exactly that, a limit! If you are driving along a twisty NSL road do you stick to the limit no matter the alignment of the carriageway? The limit is there to prevent you from exceeding that figure not to give you target. If the road conditions or hazards that are present require a slower speed then that speed is the appropriate speed.
Looking at the google street view link you provided the raised crossing is installed right outside a school where small children/parents with buggies will frequently need to cross the carriageway. I would consider this an appropriate location for such a crossing to improve the safety of pupils and parents accessing the school. If you need to slow down a bit for say 30 seconds max is it really that much of a problem?
@ Werewolf - Yeah, I am a Civil/Highways Engineer so have to deal with these sort of things a lot for my sins. The raised crossing will indeed be covered under the road hump regs. The only other regulations/guidance that this site would be subject to would be LTN 2/95 The Design of Pedestrian Crossings iirc and some other bits and bobs like the Traffic Signs Manual chapter 5 and the TSRGD to do with road markings and the like. *loser mode off*
Not always. For example the new speed humps they installed in the area my family live in, has damaged parts of my dads car not once but a few times now! I was actually walking past it today and a passat scraped over it, you can actually see scrape marks on the hump where the tarmac has scraped off from the underside of cars hitting.
Also another case against speed humps is with all the green warriors around perhaps someone should tell em a car constantly breaking and accelerating cause it to use more fuel.
If you go slow it wont scrape if it is designed correcly.
A raised crossing thats 2m long between ramps provides enough distance to avoid this. The ones that scrape are the stupid little 500mm wide speed "thumps" where you straddle the obstruction. Good practice says these shouldn't be installed but guidance is just that....guidance unfortunately.
I would be willing to wager that the additional fuel used and its effect on the environment due to the implementation of speed bumps is negligable. Its the materials used in highways construction that cause the damage
