Safe Speed Forums

speed bumps might be cause also?

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Speed limit sign radio interview. TV Snap Unhappy
“It has never been the rule in this country – I hope it never will be - that suspected criminal offences must automatically be the subject of prosecution” He added that there should be a prosecution: “wherever it appears that the offence or the circumstances of its commission is or are of such a character that a prosecution in respect thereof is required in the public interest”
This approach has been endorsed by Attorney General ever since 1951. CPS Code

Figures...

My GF injured her car due to a badly filled in bit of roadworks by Thames Water. They dragged their heels for over a year before she gave up and got sick of driving around with a non-round wheel and just bought a new set with her own money.

Utter disgrace if you ask me.

A friend's car has just had the front suspension replaced. Not that old a car. Lives in an area only accessible over several speed humps.

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Prepare to be Judged

My yaris needs a lot of work at 70k miles
steering rack has a tight point (£900 from toyota!)
clunk from osf suspension


What annoys me is speed bumps that need negotiating at 10-15 mph on a 30mph rd.

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Speed limit sign radio interview. TV Snap Unhappy
“It has never been the rule in this country – I hope it never will be - that suspected criminal offences must automatically be the subject of prosecution” He added that there should be a prosecution: “wherever it appears that the offence or the circumstances of its commission is or are of such a character that a prosecution in respect thereof is required in the public interest”
This approach has been endorsed by Attorney General ever since 1951. CPS Code

Since the local council "humped" the roads onto our estate, I have had two suspension spring failures, on two different vehicles - the first spearing the tyre with the broken end!
Luckily it was on the said estate, so at a slow pace.

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Time to take responsibility for our actions.. and don't be afraid of speaking out!

Again, we need to be careful of drawing conclusions from this. I think there will be a number of confounding factors. For a start, modern suspensions (in the quest for ever-improving noise, vibration and harshness characteristics) are less durable than older cars. A bit of a sweeping generalisation, I know, but rubber bushes these days have massive compliance compared to similar types of vehicle 20 years ago. Cars these days also have a lot more grip and therefore put bigger loads into their suspensions than their older counterparts.

I also wonder whether it's meaningful to compare vehicle data from the US of A. They don't have as many corners there do they?

Of course I'm perfectly prepared to accept that poor roads play a big part - and speed humps. But I am also mindful of a freind of ours who was moaning about speed humps having necessitated an almost complete replacement of every suspension bush on her car. Unfortunately, her route to school over the new speed humps also coincided with the start of her daughter's dance lessons at a little place at the end of a rutted farm track.

Even then, when the replacements didn't last as long as the originals, (further evidence in her eyes) that the new speed humps were responsible, she did also admit to not having bought genuine manufacturer's components but rather cheaper pattern ones!

The press release contained "like for like" details. For example they matched jeeps in the USA with jeeps in the UK.

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www.thatsnews.org.uk / www.thatsnews.blogspot.com / http://thatsmotoring.blogspot.com/

but are US jeeps the same spec as UK ones??

outside of the citys and interstates US rural roads can be pretty rough or even dirtracks.

it would not be surprising if UK jeeps were somewhat softer.

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"The road to a police state is paved with public safety legislation"

It's possible. Some people have mentioned how they blast over the bumps. But could you imagine a "proper" Jeep breaking a spring on a speed bump! What a fiddle it is - manufacturers are churning out lemons that get wrecked by piddly speed bumps. The world has gone mad.

The roads in (for example) eastern Canada have pot holes you can get lost in. Well, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but the roads are very bad indeed; far worse than here overall. However bad it gets, none get mended until spring. It's the ice and snow that cracks the roads. Drivers look out for them, and avoid them like the plague.

That’s easier said than done, especially on busy roads where your eyes are looking for other things, other than looking at the road surface.

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Useless laws weaken necessary laws.

I'm talking about Ottawa and Montreal. If the roads are crappy, and you need to look for other things, you have to drive slower or break your springs. That's your choice, eh?

I don't want to lay out more tax on road repairs unless I have to. I pay too much already. Maybe the makers could quit making lemons. Or we could get those truckers to cough up - they're the ones who pound the roads in the first place. Those dealers need straightening out as well - it shouldn't cost hundreds to mend a spring. My wife broke one last year and it cost about £50 from the guy down the road.

I think it actually contained references that were supposed to make you THINK they were "like-for-like" comparisons! Things are very different in the US - as has been said, vehicles aren't always the same specification. The roads are quite different and the pattern of car usage too. We have no way of knowing whether steering and handling characteristics that are acceptable over there are likely to be unacceptable over here. We might just be less willing to forgive a bit of "play" here and there because of the way we drive.

You need to get yourself one of those big, fat X5s, mate - I believe they have a track wide enough to straddle most speed humps!

Years ago after the first installation of speed humps round here it was an almost daily event for a certain make of car to be towed to the dealer - problems with fuel cut-out switch /wiring after going over a hump

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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

Am not sure about suspension.
But if you have low profile tyres it is very easy to buckle your wheels on speed bumps and potholes.

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Oct 11 Birmingham Half Marathon. I am running for the British Heart Foundation.
http://www.justgiving.com/Rob-Taylor

I'm trying to list the lemons, but it got so long after that "fuel crisis" that I avoid "new" cars altogether now (where new means anything less than 15 years old - that's when things started to slide). But come on, Botach, don't be coy. What is that heap that cut out on the bumpy roads?

Sounds like those are good on racing cars, but pretty fragile on normal roads. It's not good to pay out to fill in potholes so that people can run on inadequate tyres.

They're not that bad really, unless you get into the really stupid aftermarket stuff (eg 17" chrome rims on a vauxhall nova with 1" thick tyres in order to make them still fit under the arches). Dont forget that many cars come with low profile tyres as standard and have EU Type Approval. Surely it is reasonable to expect that a mass produced car type approved for use in the EU should be able to run on UK roads without buckling wheels all the time.

I understand that the Canadian (and northern USA) solution to the problem is that in addition to winter tyres, they have winter rims too, mainly because this makes it far easier to swap them over. The winter rims would typically be smaller, made of steel and with higher profile tyres, possibly at a lower tyre pressure as well.

But really the Canadian approach to road maintenance doesn't really apply here. When it's so cold that being caught outside in the winter is pretty much a death sentence, I'm not surprised they don't want to send some workmen out to fix a few potholes. We don't have the same excuse.

It is nothing to do with the tyres. I am having trouble explaing what I mean.

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Oct 11 Birmingham Half Marathon. I am running for the British Heart Foundation.
http://www.justgiving.com/Rob-Taylor