Speed Humps

securespark · 9 Mar 2006

Please don't move this - I believe it will get a better response here.

I had an argument with a senior council employee many years ago. It went like this:

What is the speed limit on this road?

30mph.

So that means I can travel over these speed bumps at 30 then?

No, you have to reduce your speed to travel over them.

In that case, don't you think there ought to be 20mph signs preceding them?

In Auto Express this week, it is reported that in Sunderland up to 2K speed bumps are illegally installed because the RTA demands that a 20mph zone be set up before sb's are installed.

Without the zones, the humps are classed as an obstruction in the highway, an offence under the RTA.

Interesting!

Steve · 9 Mar 2006

Nice one. I dont get when they put speed humps in that require you to do, like, half the speed limit. Though i have seen a few done recently that allow you to do the speed limit (just), so it seems they are waking up to this. Also seen a lot of "hills" in the middle of the lane, as opposed to speed humps. The ones where you can just make your car's wheels straddle the hill, and thus do 50-60mph over them

Adam_151 · 10 Mar 2006

I'd love to own an old car that was built solidly, and was worth next to nothing for these type of things

ban-all-sheds · 10 Mar 2006

High on my list of fun hobbies to take up if I win the lottery is taking a council to court to sue for damage to my vehicle caused by driving over speed bumps at the posted speed limit.

For a council to deliberately engineer a road so as to damage vehicles, and/or make them dangerously unstable when being driven at the permitted speed surely cannot be legal.

AdamW · 10 Mar 2006

In a hirecar Mondeo, I found that I could drive at speeds of over 90mph straddling the pillows, through a 30mph limit. It was quite comfortable and the car made no complaint. Prior to installation of the pillows, I wouldn't have had any incentive to speed down that road like a crazed West Mercian policeman.

Of course I jest!

(or do I?

)

My car is a very typical family hatchback yet I find I must slow to 5mph or so to get over most speedhumps round here without "matress-spring" noises coming from under the bonnet. I'm not the only one as I see most cars do the same.

Now Simon, I was driving down some single-width backlanes yesterday that were potholed and barely suitable for cars... yet they had a 60mph speedlimit. Presumably the council could try an argument like that.

Doesn't make it right though

If a road is designed for 30mph, they shouldn't place obstructions that make speeds above 5mph bad for the car.

ban-all-sheds · 10 Mar 2006

Adam_151 said:
I'd love to own an old car that was built solidly, and was worth next to nothing for these type of things

I used to have one of those.

But then a combination of going to work for a company with a less attractive company car scheme, and the increasing tax burden, made me decide to opt out, and I found that my car was no longer so robust....

mlb3c · 10 Mar 2006

excuse me....dont mean to split hairs...but it does say speed "limit" for a reason....the limit is the highest speed not the recommended speed...i think they leave that up to common sense

ban-all-sheds · 10 Mar 2006

I agree.

But I still think that they are on dodgy ground to take a road with a 30mph limit, i.e. one where it has been officially decided that 30mph is an acceptably safe speed, and then to deliberately make it unsafe to drive at 30mph...

mlb3c · 10 Mar 2006

good point....i guess they dont always use common sense either

--the ones making the decisions i mean

securespark · 10 Mar 2006

ban-all-sheds said:
For a council to deliberately engineer a road so as to damage vehicles, and/or make them dangerously unstable when being driven at the permitted speed surely cannot be legal.

My point entirely, mate!

UNLESS there is a drop in the speed limit. But if the limit is 30, you should be able to do 30 over these without fracturing a sub-frame, lower suspension arm, or vertibra....

empip · 10 Mar 2006

No chance - Speed limits are MAX there are generally no minimum limits.

103: You MUST NOT exceed the maximum speed limits for the road and for your vehicle (see the table below).....

104:
The speed limit is the absolute maximum and does not mean it is safe to drive at that speed irrespective of conditions. Driving at speeds too fast for the road and traffic conditions can be dangerous. You should always reduce your speed when the road layout or condition presents hazards, such as bends
sharing the road with pedestrians and cyclists, particularly children, and motorcyclists
weather conditions make it safer to do so
driving at night as it is harder to see other road users.

Be it right or wrong tis there written ...

Our roads are a shambles of parked vehicles, pot holes and ridiculous humps .... Now the West country is about to fall into the C Charging black hole ... Soon we will be unable to travel freely .. Who is gonna pay for the downkeep of the roads as fewer have the means to use them??

ban-all-sheds · 10 Mar 2006

You are missing the point, (I believe).

There is a very fundamental difference between conditions such as rain/fog/ice/snow/leaves/mud, pedestrians, wildlife, shops, parked cars, wear & tear etc etc etc etc etc, and deliberately making a road more dangerous at the posted limit than it was before (I believe).

empip · 10 Mar 2006

Maybe so. but HC 104 does seem to cover all "...You should always reduce your speed when the road layout or condition presents hazards.."
I dislike the blooming things as, sort of, the inverse to potholes, and have often thought about the dangers of suspension / wheel / tyre damage and the ensuing possibilities with regard to people and property... The nutter will not slow for them.

I guess vehicles and their operators are akin to the plague, and must be eradicated at all costs.

hermes · 10 Mar 2006

About a mile from where I live there is was a comprehensive school and about 3 years ago they put down 4 speedhumps which prevent you from going faster than about 15mph in a 30mph limit.
Last year they moved the school to a different site and they put down more speedhumps but these ones are much lower and you can do about 35 over them if you want to, still in a 30mph limit!

ban-all-sheds · 10 Mar 2006

The most effective I've ever encountered weren't actually bumps - the driveway to a stately home I visited had small ditches dug at an angle across it, so traversing each one caused 4 separate instances of a wheel dropping into a depression.

And I still maintain that no matter what the Highway Code (which is not the law, BTW) says, deliberately making roads more dangerous is not what councils should do.

Speed Humps

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