If the humps didn't conform, they were illegal obstructions of the highway. Write to the council and cc to the Police stating that you believe they were illegal obstructions of the highway.
I cannot condone any BR member suggesting filing of fraudulent claims on this site. It is dishonest, deceitful and above all, make it more difficult for honest motorists to approch councils and insurers over such issues.
If you cannot be honest and above board in your dealings with your local council then don't expect us to trust you here in the BR!
Hugo - BR Moderator
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Consider this scene.
A car is driving within the speed limit over a speed hump and this causes the steering rod to break. This in turn causes the car to mount the pavement. Unfortunately there were some pedestrians in the path of the car and one died. I feel sure an insurance company would consider the speed hump to have caused the accident, therefore the constructor and road authority would be liable for all damages.
I can see this test case coming before the courts in the near future. The end result will make councils take a risk assessment of speed humps. They will no doubt decide they are dangerous and damaging and should be removed and a different method used to control speed.
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Roger
I read frequently, but only post when I have something useful to say.
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You (or the insurance company) would still need to prove that the bump caused the steering to break. It may have been on its last legs anyway. The bump was the straw that broke the camel's back.
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"Do you think these pen pushers who make these decisions are actually experienced motorists?"
I cannot imagine there are many working people now who can manage not to be (at least) motorists.
"if it is a 30 limit you can drive over the bump at 30 without any danger of damaging or injuring anyone"
You are assuming that it should be feasible (never mind legal) to drive at 30 anywhere inside a 30 zone. This is not always the case, and the bumps are intended to slow cars to 20 or less. If you drive without enough attention to judge the severity of the bump, your fault. I probably dislike bumps as much as you - they are almost as illogical as clamping an illegally parked car - but have you any better suggestions for slowing drivers who won't slow voluntarily?
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What I find really interesting is that outside my daughters school the speed limit it 40mph (so the powers to be think this is acceptable outside a school where I would have thought 20mph would be more suitable especially as a few pupils have been involved in accidents with vehicles albeit thank goodness only minor), yet on a road where there is is no school, around 4 shops, an army barracks and just a few house these ghaslty bumps are installed.
I was speaking with one person who has bumps outside his home and each time a bus or lorry travels over it his whole house shakes. Imagine being ill in an ambulance having to be rushed to hospital it must be like riding on the back of a kangaroo
I suppose one answer is to change the car for a large SUV or maybe a bicycle to tackle these obstacles. I am all for slowing the cars down where necessary (don't they use safety cameras for this purpose?) I have no problem with cameras if they are necessary but these bumps are IMHO anti-social and dangerous.
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OK, we all agree that speed humps are a nightmare, so if your car's suspension or other component fails and the garage suggest that it is caused my speed humps, can you claim the repair bill from the local council? If so hwo do you go about it?
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Actually full width speed bumps are just as hard to negotiate on a bicycle and using the flat bit at the side is a no no as it is usually full of broken bottles, rubbish etc.
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The problem is that you are going to have the devil's own job proving that your car has been damaged by speed humps, and I have little doubt that government lawyers know that only too well. Even if an independent expert were to state that the damage is consistent with repeated encounters with speed humps (and I doubt that anything more specific could be said), the defending authority would claim that no damage would have occurred had the humps been crossed at a lower speed and that, in any case, it could have been caused by something else entirely. That's the swamp we're in.
The only hope is to pin down the people you vote for, insist that they declare their position on these and other infernal and stupid traffic-management measures, and don't give them your vote. Alternatively, petitions might help too.
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There are, as ever, two sides to this. I hate speed ramps, bumps and cushions with a passion- they are certainly not healthy for an older car (bone-jarring is the only way I can describe my MG's progress over them), and have undoubtedly caused the unecessary deaths of some people who have to be crawled rather than rushed into hospital. They are a scourge, and encourage people to buy SUVs too.
On the other hand, I witness, if not daily then regularly, idiots tearing up my road at 40-50mph. It's a residential street with houses and flats all along (so, kids, cats etc all around). It also happens to be a bit of a short cut- hence the problem.
Maybe we (as the 'driving public' are responsible for bringing this on ourselves? If we didn't break limits and run people over, then there would be no need of traffic calming. Of course, this doesn't alter the fact that overzealous authorities are pebbledashing the roads with bumps where they really aren't required! There's one road, half in Bromley, half in Lewisham- the Bromley half has no ramps. Lewisham half- no less than 3 different sorts!
How can we encourage LAs to be more selective and responsible?
Answers on a postcard.
Alex.
--
Dr Alex Mears
MG BGT 1971
If you are in a hole stop digging...unless
you are a miner.
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How can we encourage LAs to be more selective and responsible? Answers on a postcard. Alex.
By complaining bitterly, with threats to vote green or monster raving loony (but not fascist because the papers like it too much and try to ramp up the fascist vote in council elections), whenever you get a chance.
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Totally agree with APM.
I dislike speed humps as much as anyone, but as with speed cameras, they are there because drivers as a collective refuse to use their vehicles responsibly.
The day the powers that be (who have a duty to ensure safety of all road users, not just drivers) can trust drivers to adopt a sensible speed, will be the day they are removed.
Just read the post on here "why are we such bad drivers?" and you can see how unlikely that day will be.
Depressing but true.
Ian
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So negativity aside, how do we rid the UK of humps:
1- remove the need for them (not likely)
2- make another solution more attractive to Local Authoritys/ transport agencies.
This could be better road planning, like London Borough of Brent who are scrapping speed humps, or await some sort of better technical solution.
Tricky one though. I wish HJ luck in his C.A.S.H
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What on earth makes you think that when drivers are good, the authorities will be rational?
Drivers can be good till they're blue in the face, and the authorities will still be, well, er, the authorities, carpier than they ought to be by a very long chalk.
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Actually it is the other way round. If you treat the driving population like temperamental toddlers then they behave like it. Try treating them like responsible adults, able to choose a safe and sensible way to drive. Reward those that do. Then you can go after all the uninsured and drugged up menaces who are probably the ones responsible for 90% of accidents. It is the continual treatment of the vast majority of safe and responsible drivers like cretins which is the problem. There are a select bunch which don't care and never will. These aren't the car enthusiasts or the driving enthusiasts - these are the greenies in sandles and mums in 4x4s/mpvs that don't give a rats about how they drive as they don't really like it and the car is like a washing machine not something to be looked after.
The only caveat to this is that children would have to be banned from cars as they're a bigger distraction to a parent than any mobile phone or satnav.....
teabelly
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