Safe Speed Forums

I'd love to, but too late to ask for a holiday. I'm going to try to get a shift swap.

Arranging a meeting for 3pm is a sure fire way to ensure only the busybody types can actually go. Most residents are at work, therefor they will of course all agree.

As usual there has been no publicity for this meeting. I'm thinking of leafleting as many houses in the area as i can.

If i do go, i will need some facts and figures about previous traffic calming schemes, and what happened as a result. Can anyone help with this?

Couldn't get a shift swap... so wrote another letter. What do you think??

Hi Ian,

Thanks for getting back to me. It's good to hear at least some local consultation is taking place, although scheduling it at 3pm on a Wednesday afternoon means that you will get a very one-sided response.. Most road users(including myself) are unable to attend at such a time due to work commitments, whereas those likely to be in support, such as the retired who no longer drive, will not find this a problem!

I also feel it's something that needs wider publicity, this is a MAJOR change to local roads that affects every single resident, so everyone should know these meetings are taking place, through leafleting or a questionnaire.

I do not accept that the bumps don't damage cars, as I said previously I have seen the damage in my own and friends cars, and am sure any local garage would confirm the increase in
suspension and tyre problems they have faced since the introduction of the bumps.

Crossing them "correctly" is not always possible due to parked cars etc, which mean you have to straddle them at an angle, producing a fairly heavy jolt. Not a problem if it happens occasionally, but if we are looking at a situation where they are rolled out on every minor street, then it's a recipe for disaster. Common sense tells you that going up and down over hundreds of bumps every day is anything but good for cars.

As I cannot find ANY record of serious speed related accidents in Markinch in recent years, I can't see the justification for a blanket bump policy over the whole town. If accidents have been minimal in 20 odd years, after hundreds of thousands of traffic movements, why should motorists be penalised when the vast majority in the town have been driving responsibly? The few idiots will just continue to race over them anyway.

Not only will it cost a fortune, it also means that every motorist, not to mention those with back problems to whom the bumps cause great pain, have to suffer every day, bumping up and down, and the increased maintenence costs that go with it, with no real gain - no lives saved - because there were very few accidents in the area in the first place.

Accidents could... in fact I would go as far as to say WILL be caused in the winter months when these bumps are really lethal. Snowploughs cant clear them effictively and in snow they are hidden completely - potentially lethal.

Let's look at only putting these drastic physical measures in places with a proven accident problem. Seems at the moment council policy is being dictated by the "they've got them so i want some" attitude of the minority.

I note your comments RE: Hull, however it is eye opening also to note that in Brixton in London the bumps were taken out once the extent of the problems they caused was realised, and the council instead approached road safety from a new angle, with a number of measures including education of drivers and children in schools, which then resulted in a 15% drop in casualties!

Only today i encountered a group of primary school age children in Glenrothes were running in and out playing chicken with the cars on Warout road, so the education does need to be there, and as is proved by Brixton, it saves more lives than lumps of tar in the middle of the road. Whatever happened to the green cross code?

I note the bumps on Warout road have been smoothed out to an extent,making them easier and less damaging to cross...why here but no where else?

It's a nice letter, the only improvement I would have made is linking the parked cars issue with emergency services such as fire and ambulance where the speed cushion concept that allows them to freely pass is totally negated, resulting in delayed response times and potential deaths.

Let's hope that it is received correctly, rather than just being brushed under the carpet - perhaps sending a copy to the local papers would ensure that at least some people see it?