What to do about ludicrously large speedbump.

Soldato
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This isn't a Motors related post, I need some advice about a massively over engineered speed bump at the college I attend.

The college campus has two student car parks which both involve going along a speed bump infested road. I have no real problems with speed management in built up places and in all honestly can’t see how they can control speed at the college without speed bumps.

But, in the colleges bid to control speed they seem to have made a few errors. Firstly one of the speed bumps doubles up as a pedestrian crossing. Not so bad, but this means it needs to be the same height as a kerb. Also it is wide to accommodate more than a single line of people over it. Now these factors start to add up and the fact that it’s also built on a hill means that that it is actually quite a task to drive over. It causes people to slow down extremely slow. You have to ride the clutch to get over and still the bottom of your car will scrape. I’ve seen numerous cars; not just low modified cars but larger family vehicles such as Mk5 Golfs, people carriers etc.

It gets worse on the way back down as of the angle of the car means the back end of your car is forced back down onto the bump and this is actually causing damage to the bump. It is littered with deep gouges from the underside of people’s cars so I hate to think what it must be doing to exhaust and suspension components.

The college principal’s view on it is simply that if you drive over it at 5Mph it is fine. I beg to differ. I have to crawl over it in my car, on the wrong side of the road and it still scrapes. Ok my car may be lowered, but I’m one of many people with lowered cars AND it isn’t just low cars, as I mentioned earlier it’s a whole variety of cars.

The principal insists she’s within her rights and that the speed bump is fine. I think it’s a disgrace, how they can expect people to everyday have to try and scale Mount Speed bump. They also encourage car sharing, well if a car 5 up with people tried to get over it, I can only dread to think what would happen.

They offer no alternative to it. You used to be able to drive around it, but some clever person in an office who probably catches the bus to work has decided to have 4 rocks cemented in the way.

So, what can be done about this? What are the height limits for the bump? How should I go about complaining?

Bit of a long post but I needed a rant and needed to supply sufficient info.

Cheers.
 
go down at night with a sledgehammer and some other tools, and tear that mother down

edit : dammit sirrel beat me to it
 
Im positive there is a legal height requirment.
And if there isnt, get a video camera, and videotape people driving over it to show how bad it s. And fill a car full of people (a nice respectful car with non troublsome students) and drive over it. Showing the principle even those nice students saving the enviroment are having troiuble.
 
Someone recently took their local council to court and won over a speed bump on their road that was consistently causing damage to their cars. If I remember correctly, the council had to remove it.

Perhaps armed with this you could approach the governing body of the college and ask them to adjust the speed bump in order to prevent damage to vehicles?
 
DRZ said:
Someone recently took their local council to court and won over a speed bump on their road that was consistently causing damage to their cars. If I remember correctly, the council had to remove it.

Perhaps armed with this you could approach the governing body of the college and ask them to adjust the speed bump in order to prevent damage to vehicles?

Slight difference between a speed bump on a public highway, and one in a private car park though.
 
chippie said:
Slight difference between a speed bump on a public highway, and one in a private car park though.

He said it was on the road to the car park...
 
DRZ said:
He said it was on the road to the car park...

Sounds to me as if the road is private too. For example the road leading to my Unis car-park is a private road which runs around the whole campus (the campus is built inside various gates, like a big square fenced off area just off the main road). The roads 15mph all the way around, and they have those speed bumps you don't actually know are speed bumps until you hit them, :D
 
Thanks for input so far.

Yes sorry I did forget to add that the road to the college car park is privately owned by the college.

But, just because it's on private land surely they can't expect people to have to damage there cars just because they put a hefty speed bump in the road.

And you know what really takes the biscuit, the principal parks in a 'special' car park BEFORE the speedbump :rolleyes:

Cheers.
 
Either that or buy an old car, rig the front bumper, when the principle is watching drive over slowly and let the front bumper be smashed :p.
 
There are limits to their size, but I doubt they'll apply as its private property.

Not much you can do that your not already doing really, short of get in before her and park in her parking space...
 
The maximum legal height of a speed hump is 100mm, but the Department for Transport say:

"To limit the possibility of grounding, investigations suggest that road humps generally should not exceed 75mm in height."
 
Park in the principals space, then say you didnt want to damage your car, and if its not an issue then why can't she drive over it? simple :)

The college won't listen to you i expect, don't expect to get anywhere, no matter who you speak to or what you do, i've tried in the past and they're arrogant and never accept they're wrong, even when the entire college has a problem.
 
At least your college provides parking, at ours we have to leave the cars all around the town when there are many perfectly good spaces empty which are 'reserved' for teachers and other staff. Its getting so bad that with increasing amounts of sixth formers and teachers that some unscrupulous folks are parking in cycle lanes and such.

When a school/college has over 300 sixth-formers you would think there would be some obligation to provide parking?
 
singist said:
I reccommend catching the bus with the clever person from the office ..... end of prob.

Bit hard when you live in the middle of nowhere and there isn't a direct bus serivce to the college.

Why should I re-arrange my life because of a speed bump?
 
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