Traffic Calming good or bad?

Less · 13-12-2005, 19:36

How many of us want safe roads? At a guess I would say 100%, but what is a safe road? Is it as I pointed out in another thread a road that causes frustration for drivers because unlike the old tradition where a bus moves into a bay at the side of a road, the bus stop is built out to cause chaos for traffic in both directions!
Or is it the dicing with death Chicanes on charter street where people have been seen to speed up to try and make it first forcing the true priority driver to make some very strange and last minute manoeuvres to avoid a crash?
Or maybe the real traffic calming are the suspension ruining and drain destroying humps that just end up as a challenge to the ' I can get over that just watch me brigade'?

I believe most of this type of calming was created by a none-driver that has now moved on to cock-up pastures new. Would it be possible for our esteemed council to take another look and perhaps do something to rectify this persons mistakes, after all even the emergency services have criticised this mess!

Neil · 13-12-2005, 20:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by Less

Or maybe the real traffic calming are the suspension ruining and drain destroying humps that just end up as a challenge to the ' I can get over that just watch me brigade'?

I will take you for a spin down Fairfield Street over the bumps sometime to show how pointless they are. Lets have a competition - How fast can you do the bumps on Fairfield Street.

geoff70 · 13-12-2005, 20:40

i think common sense has been thrown out the window on this issue ,we too have traffic calming in our neck of the woods ,and like less pointed out suspension ruining rubbish ..ours are meant to stop so called joyriders from speeding ,which makes a mockery of the whole thing ,why should the joyriders care they stole the car anyway !!!!
so the tax paying drivers are literally left to pick up the pieces ......................of their cars!

panther · 13-12-2005, 20:45

the roads are safe, ..... its the idiots on it that make it unsafe! like unisured, no tax, or MOT numpties!! YEH YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!!!

entwisi · 13-12-2005, 20:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neil

I will take you for a spin down Fairfield Street over the bumps sometime to show how pointless they are. Lets have a competition - How fast can you do the bumps on Fairfield Street.

In the car I reckon I could hit 70, on the bike with no other traffic easily 100+

In your car I reckon whatever it can do

I agree, they don't stop the exact people they are aiming to control. What we need are decent punishments for the crime. Anyone caught exceeding the speed limit within 1 mile of a school should lose their car for a week.

Of course our politicians haven't got the dangly bits to put a proper crime and punishment bill together.

chav1 · 13-12-2005, 22:20

traffic calming measures woul be ok if it was actualy put in the right places

Neil · 13-12-2005, 22:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by entwisi

In the car I reckon I could hit 70, on the bike with no other traffic easily 100+

Over the bumps? I would like to see you try

Neil · 13-12-2005, 22:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by panther

the roads are safe, ..... its the idiots on it that make it unsafe! like unisured, no tax, or MOT numpties!! YEH YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!!!

Why does having no tax or MOT make you unsafe?

chav1 · 13-12-2005, 22:39

as someone currently learning to drive i am amazed at how many dumb arses there are out there who have no idea how to use a roundabout

i can count 5 times where some numbskull has nearly gone into the side of me

MOT does not mean your cars is safe all it means is that on 1 day of the year your car was up to required level of condition to be road worthy and i would estimate over 50% of cars with a valid MOT certifiacte would not pass another MOT

no insurence dosnt make you a dangerous driver either al it means is that in teh event of an accident there is no body to fall back on for repairs etc except the driver of teh un insured car

cashman · 13-12-2005, 23:21

just a personal opinion but i think they are the stupidest things imaginable,i certainly dread having lifesaving treatment in the back of an ambulence going over them bloody things.

PILKYBUSDRIVER · 13-12-2005, 23:22

Not very good for the back if you're driving up church st over 3 mini roundabouts then up ormerod st around fern gore then the reverse.3 trips an hour all day long.How many humps n bumps an hour is that?

chav1 · 14-12-2005, 05:24

just a point of interest

any road sighn that is not displayed as in the highway code is irrelivent

basicly this means that the majority of traffic sighns in the uk are not legal

any speed sighn with yellow on it for instance or those speed limits painted on orange speed bumps etc are all irrelivent

thousands of peopel are getting off with speeding fines for example simply because they contest them in court and the cases get thrown out

one example that springs to mind is when a man got caught on a speed camera and he photographed the sighn saying 30mph and took it to court saying that the sighn was illigal so irrelivent and the judge had to agree

there was a big story on this a few weeks ago on tv and basicly all these new road sighns and road markings are a big waste of money unless of course the law/highway code is changed to accomodate them which atthis moment dosnt seem to be happening

if these traffic calming measures are to be any use at all they should at the very least have the law behind them

if you get caught on speed camera it may be worth checking it out and contesting it to save yurself 3 points and a fine

i havnt yet been done for speeding and am in no rush to prove the above but rest assured if one of those cameras gets me i will be looking at it as an option

also tests were done on mobile speed cameras and when pointed at a stationary car the mobile speed camera said it was doing 8mph yet there was no one in the car and the engine wasnt running and this is supposed to be a common fault with them and false readings are frequent yet peopel just pay up and dont argue the toss

and one more bit of information about yellow lines

Quote:

In accordance with the traffic engineer's bible - Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions - yellow lines must have a T-bar where they terminate or change from double to single or vice versa. If the T-bar is missing then the line is not legal and, therefore, not enforceable. T-bars are not required where a yellow line meets a parking bay or zebra crossing as bays and crossings effectively sit on top of the yellow line.

so if you get a ticket in accy walk to the end and see if it is a legal yellow line before paying your fine

here read the rest yourselves lol

http://www.parkingticket.co.uk/em.html

Gayle · 14-12-2005, 10:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by chav1

as someone currently learning to drive i am amazed at how many dumb arses there are out there who have no idea how to use a roundabout

i can count 5 times where some numbskull has nearly gone into the side of me

Don't get me started on the subject of roundabouts. I actually think that the theory behind roundabouts is perfect - everyone gets in the right lane, stops, let people from the right go first, etc - can't fault the logic.

But the number of numpties on the road who can't grasp the simple principle involved baffle me.

Neil · 14-12-2005, 12:19

I think it helps when the entrance to roundabouts is marked up so everyone knows where they should be. Those newish roundabouts near Queens Park Hospital in Blackburn are a good example of people not knowing which lane to be. One has 2 exits and 2 lanes going into it. So it should be left lane for left turn and right lane for straight on. Most people use the left lane for going straight on. What do they think the right hand lane is for, going all the way round and back the way you came?

Gayle · 14-12-2005, 12:58

You tend to find the bigger the roundabout the less likely people are to know what to do with it. The one at the viaduct in Acc for example - coming at it from Hyndburn Road there are two lanes, the straight on route which goes past the Inland Revenue should join up but people try to switch lanes on the roundabout itself. The number of times when you get cut up by someone who starts in the right hand lane but wants to go into the left hand lane at the other side.

So, yes, I would agree with you to some degree Neil - markings should be clearer on the approach but equally driving lessons and tests should be more instructive about roundabouts.