Safe Speed Forums

As you can see, the traffic is still safely missing us cyclists but the car drivers aren't likely to colide or smash their mirrors either. A win-win situation The traffic is only, can only, do about 20 mph and with the distance between the bumps you could "slalom" even in the snow or ice.

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.

And not so long ago ,in a county near Big Tone ,there was set out a "speed review " .
The County councillors didn't like the policies set out by the Officers ,the Police totally opposed the recommendations ( on safety grounds) ,the public objected, yet we got swinging,non sensible cuts in limits -DC limits reduced to ,but an adjacent SC stayed at NSL .
However a lot of a certain party lost their seats in the following elections . and the proposed(By the County,oppossed by the public) refuse site/ Fire Brigade cutbacks / amalgamation of two schools have started to founder -so mewonders if voter power has hit home .
For that ,I'll wait for the General election - the party that lost a lot of seats have decreed that we MUST have a female MP- and one has been found to replace our retiring MP.Be nice to see her get the order of the Doc Martin

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

I think that you mean, like in High Peak, that they have decreed that you must have a female CANDIDATE. Even with all the recent loss of civil liberties it is still the voters who will decide if she becomes an MP.

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When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown

"The County councillors didn't like the policies set out by the Officers ,"


This says it all....it's the officers making the decisions and these people aren't going to change....unless they get a sideways move to accounts or environmental health (which they are probably no better qaulified than they are as highways engineers)...the only solution is to take speed limit changes away from inept local council, highways depts and put them back to the say so of the police.

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My views do not represent Safespeed but those of a driver who has driven for 39 yrs, in all conditions, at all times of the day & night on every type of road and covered well over a million miles, so knows a bit about what makes for safety on the road,what is really dangerous and needs to be observed when driving and quite frankly, the speedo is way down on my list of things to observe to negotiate Britain's roads safely, but I don't expect some fool who sits behind a desk all day to appreciate that.

Another problem with these if they are poorly finished or start to wear the slope starts to become an edge that can wear the inside sidewall of tyres - my local tyre fitters are very aware of the problem and showed me some tyres that showed this sort of wear.

Yet another bright idea creating a potential hazard.

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Gordon Brown saying I got the country into it's current economic mess so I'll get us out of it is the same as Bomber Harris nipping over to Dresden and offering to repair a few windows.

Chaos, panic and disorder - my work here is done.

http://www.wildcrafts.co.uk

From here .

Are you saying the closer the cushions are to the curb the more dangerous it is for pedestrians? As dcb quite rightly pointed out to me they put the cushions as far from the curb for, (or hopefully they did it because of), cyclists which I am all in favour of and I gracefully acknowledged that I think.

Although I am not a fan of speed bumps at all, I conceded that he was right and it would be in the best interests of cyclists. I am always open to any safety ideas – always! I have seen roads where the cushions are as close as ~12” to the curb or as far as ~3 feet from the curb so I don't know what safety guidlines they are using, if any, based on real safety. How's this...

In an ideal world there would always be as much distance between the two or a protective barrier betwixt pedestrians and traffic. This means that the two could actually be within 12" of each other and safer as opposed to no protective barrier yet six feet from each other and less safe. Circumstances, Conditions and Real Safety weepej! Not just Speed, Speed and Speed!




Please explain why?

I put forth my understanding of the situation, complete with diagram, to explain exactly what I am saying as an alternative to forcing opposing traffic needlessly and dangerously close towards one another whilst keeping the bumps at the same distance from the curb and preserving the existing safety margin for cyclists.

So I don't understand your second point at all? There is a "flat path" between them anyway. All I suggested was staggering the flat paths in either direction and I thought my diagram explained that. I'll post it again without the clutter. can you please tell me your objections based on safety grounds? I want to know why B is not safer or a better idea than A?

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.

You're missing the guy trying to maintain 35 by swinging round the cushions so he doesn't have to go over them at all...

As I said earlier in this thread, it would be hard to do much more than 20 mph anyway over those cushions, such as they are. ALSO, a car can only go as fast as the slowest driver, so even if he is a maniac with a complete disregard for his vehicle and other peoples safety it's even less likely to happen in real life that he could, or would be able, to do 35 mph in traffic.

Looking at the pic, I guess you're suggesting this..




If that did ever happen I think no barriers or cameras would ever deter a nut like that. Maybe a traf pol though; now there's a thought...

So the next question would be, do you prefer 'that maniac' to do 20/25 mph missing oncoming traffic by millimetres or leave a little more room?

I also notice you cherry-picked what to reply to again, (you really should get out of that habit), because I also said "In an ideal world there would always be as much distance between the two or a protective barrier betwixt pedestrians and traffic. This means that the two could actually be within 12" of each other and safer as opposed to no protective barrier yet six feet from each other and less safe."

Correct?

Edit to add: If you really wanted to slow the traffic down using cushions then why not favour the cushion that spans the whole width of the road? That way the drivers can assess what is too close to oncoming traffic for themselves but you also prevent 'the maniac' from doing 35 trying to miss the island type when there is no traffic. Answer me that one too please?

There is no consistancy from local authorities across the land at all, certainly not based on safety there isn't.

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.

So it's yet another example of a stupid idea, maybe done in all innocence with a genuine concern for safety, but not thought through with consultation from a wide and experienced group on every aspect of real road safety.

If I did the equivalent of that in my job I'd be on a warning or fired! Actually, in my job, I may well kill someone with that level of stupidity!!!

I guess the faceless self-serving morons who have the power and impunity to implement these idiotic un-assessed measures just keep blaming speed and get away with it while people like me and the other wonderful services are forced to keep picking up the £uckin' sad pieces!

(For those who don't know, I work in Rehab)

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.

[quote="Big Tone

If I did the equivalent of that in my job I'd be on a warning or fired! Actually, in my job, I may well kill someone with that level of stupidity!!!

quote]

Tone - Unfottunately -you deal with people ( and from what I read ,do a great job). I've been there , but the SCP have no consideration of safety-iT'S ALL ABOUT PROFIT to them -If you watch Starship Enterprise- you might recognise them as Ferengi

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

And thanks for trying to cheer me up bud.

Unfortunately it feels like everyone is becoming part of 'The Borg Speed-Kills Collective'

I'd better get some shut-eye now..

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.

Well quite, just that in your world the cushions will be much closer to the edge of the road, and therefore there'll be a bigger gap up the middle.

Rip em out, 20mph averge speed camera over the stretch, sorted.

It's the return of the failed argument:



viewtopic.php?p=215029#p215029


viewtopic.php?p=215037#p215037


Sorted, indeed!

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Views expressed are personal opinions and are not necessarily shared by the Safe Speed campaign

Same here mate, if I tried that approach to safety on site the HSE would shut it down and prosecute me.

Does it strike anyone as odd that with all the wealth of knowledge on safety systems and technology that the HSC, HSE and the H&S Laboratories have they have never been consulted on road safety in general ?

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Gordon Brown saying I got the country into it's current economic mess so I'll get us out of it is the same as Bomber Harris nipping over to Dresden and offering to repair a few windows.

Chaos, panic and disorder - my work here is done.

http://www.wildcrafts.co.uk

[quoye="Big Tone"


If that did ever happen I think no barriers or cameras would ever deter a nut like that. Maybe a traf pol though; now there's a thought... [/quote]

Your drawing shows a hump spacing of about three vehicle lengths or about 15 meters. But, in Macclesfield at any rate, the actual spacing is rarely less than 50 meters. So you should remove two in every three of the humps in your drawing. If you do that you will see that zigzaging is quite easy and many drivers would be tempted to do so when traffic is light.


Even as a cyclist you are approaching this mainly from a drivers perspective. Personally i would prefer maniac drivers to have near misses with other cars rather than with my bike. You have a simple choice - take the smoother faster way over the cushion at the risk of a near miss or take a the slower bumpier route for reduced risk. How many accidents have occurred because of the proximity of the cushions?



The cushion type is intended to give an unobstructed passage to two wheel vehicles - the minimum gap to the kerb has to be 750mm

Having said all that, I would prefer have every speed hump in the land ripped up.

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When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown

Read and digest:
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/SI/si1996/Uksi_19961483_en_1.htm

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The world runs on oil, period. No other substance can compete when it comes to energy density, flexibility, ease of handling, ease of transportation. If oil didn’t exist we would have to invent it.”

56 years after it was decided it was needed, the Bedford Bypass is nearing completion. The last single carriageway length of it.We have the most photogenic mayor though, always being photographed doing nothing

Me too, but for me there's got to be something else.

A "rat run" backstreet road I travel down had it's humps removed for a while recently as part of resurfacing. Speeds rose in general, and more than once I saw drivers of delivery vans/cars obviously keep their foot down all the way down the road with no thought as to what could poke out a side road or walk/run out in front of them. Trying to think like them I imagine they saw a long straight clear road (albeit with cars parked down both sides) and they floored it thinking they could make up a bit of time.

They simply would not have done this if the humps were there, I don't believe they would have done it if there were no humps but average speed cameras, even if their plates were squiffy.

Well, even if their driving is unacceptable and dangerous at 25 then people sharing the road with them have got more time to react to their bad driving than if they were doing 35.

You're right of course but I did it like so in my original drawing before that point was raised only to show the dangerous point of contact between vehicles and how it might be avoided. I personally have never seen anyone drive so wildly across both side of a road to aviod bumps. They either try and take their car with the wheels straddling the bump or, on another road by me, there's enough room on the left to take their car close to the curb on the inside of the bump. Also, as I pointed out, a traf pol would be able to see any such transgression along with mobile phone usage etc. etc...



As a cyclist myself I would also prefer two cars to have a prang than clip me. My suggestion was simply to keep the same distance from the cyclists but also separate oncoming traffic. I don't purport to be a road safety engineer but I think common sense should also be incorporated when considering issues of safety and human behaviour.



Since when did two wheels get special dispensation in terms of road safety? In the eyes of a speed camera and the law, speeding is still speeding and carries the same penalty. 10 mph over the limit is regarded as dangerous for a HGV or 4x4 as it is for a moped but I think I know which has more killing potential.



Agreed! Yes!

Phew, you're making me work for it today

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.

Don't talk silly, dangerous driving in an HGV carries bigger penalties than dangerous driving on a moped, the law recognises this, just as it recognises firing an automatic machine gun in public is different from firing a BB gun in public.