In your reply to JS of Stroud on June 24th you allude to London Mayor Boris Johnson's recent near-miss caused by a lorry's back doors opening after cresting a speed bump. I actually live on the street in East London where that incident took place. My first reaction to seeing that video was the same as yours, but apparently we are not in company in seeing the giant speed table as the cause of the incident. Yesterday our council wrote to my neighbours and me to inform us that it was planning to treble the number of speed bumps as part of a measure “to improve cyclist safety”. When I telephoned the ‘safety engineer’ behind the plan to point out the obvious flaw in his reasoning, words failed him. As a resident I hate humps for all the usual reasons. As a cyclist I detest the things as they upset my balance on the bike and are plain dangerous in wet and icy conditions. As a driver they are worse because they prevent me from safely overtaking cycles. Having two ton steel cars and squishy humans travelling at nearly the same speed in a confined space cannot possibly be safe; common sense and cycling experience tells me that it is safer to have the cars out of the way of the bikes rather than breathing down their necks. Speed bumps only serve to increase the time in which cars and cyclists are in danger of collision.
I have begun fighting the council but I would appreciate any advice you or your readers may have on getting this dangerous, costly and unwelcome plan dropped before it is implemented.