‘Too high’ Telford speed humps to be removed
Monday 12th July 2010, 8:19AM BST.
Speed humps laid down along a Telford road as part of a scheme costing thousands of pounds are to be ripped out after it was discovered they were too high.
The move follows complaints that the raised tables in Majestic Way, Aqueduct, have damaged vehicles, particularly buses. They were installed five or six years ago as part of traffic calming measures .
But now they have been found to exceed the maximum height allowed by highways regulations and will be removed next month.
Keith Myatt, spokesman for Arriva buses, said: “We have been in consultation with Telford & Wrekin Council for a period of time now regarding traffic calming measures that have been in place for a number of years and that have found to be non-compliant.
“Following that consultation, they have reviewed several locations and have decided to remove those raised tables along part of our route.
Safety
“The angle of the table has been causing damage to our buses and their suspension and Telford & Wrekin Council have accepted that the damage has been caused.
“They have now decided to remove that infrastructure for the safety and comfort of our passengers and drivers.”
In a letter to residents, Steve Molyneux, Telford & Wrekin Council’s traffic engineer, said a report had concluded the height of the raised tables exceeded the maximum height as prescribed by The Highways (Road Hump) Regulations 1999 and were below the preferred gradients.
Councillor Adrian Lawrence, cabinet member for environment, said: “The traffic calming on Majestic Way was installed in 2004-5 as part of a bigger Safer Routes to School project that included constructing a new section of footway, new signs and road markings and installing the raised table traffic calming.
“The scheme cost £17,900 in total for all of the work.
“Over the last two years, the council has received requests from Arriva and Telford and Wrekin Senior Citizens’ Forum to look at traffic calming on some bus routes, due to concerns over passenger comfort and possible impact on vehicles.
“The concerns have been raised constructively through meetings and the council agreed to investigate locations causing greatest concern. We have looked at the construction of the traffic calming on Majestic Way and identified that sections of the hump are higher than the 100mm that we aim to have as a maximum.
“We now specify maximum heights of 75mm and use a lot of pre-manufactured traffic calming to ensure heights are consistent.”
By Lisa Rowley
UK News
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And which well-paid traffic consultant or road constructor was responsible for this?
I assume that Telford and Wrekin will be asking for a refund of fees paid?
And how were they signed off by the responsible council employee?
Is this yet another example of lack of supervision and a cursory nod through of works that should have been done properly?
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Who designed them ” Humpty Dumpty”!
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Or was it his twin brother ” Numpty Dumpty”!
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now check woodside avenue please
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I’ve checked it, there’s nothing there of interest.
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Gerald, I think the engineer gives you the stats so you can check them yourself…
go check, if it is out fo spec then get it sorted. You cant expect the council to do everything can you? (tongue firmly in cheek!)
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Rodney,
In answer to your last three questions:-
No,
With a pen and
No.
These tables are being removed due to pressure from the bus company, whos drivers seem to be unable to find their break pedal on approach. And from busybody councillors jumping on the next band wagon.
If you took a serious look at money needless wasted within the council, you’d find that interference by ill informed, “shooting for the hip” chirping before they think local councillors, costs more than most local speed reducion initiatives.
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It’s the fact that the newer buses have lower clearance due to being fitted with hydraulic lifts.
Of course, as this was organised by the former Labour council…
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Hydraulic means they can alter the height of the bus. Still high up when its moving..
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Spencer, the hydraulic gear is under the bus. It hits the humps. It can be very expensive.
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Then rather than the council having to pay to adjust their speed bumps, can’t the bus manufacturers admit that they designed their hydraulic systems wrong.
thats what would normally happen..
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Thanks Gringo, although I reckon it’s going to be:
1) No, (‘cos it’s only council-tax payers’ money, so no need for prudence).
2) With a pen, (clever answer, and glad to see that they have got past the crayons stage).
3) Yes.
Point taken on the shooting from the hip statement – you appear to be the type of person who would be interested by taking a trip to http://glumcouncillors.tumblr.com/ for some examples from a parallel universe.
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Single word and disrespectful answers are not answers at all. The problem is that it’s “chirping” from locals that had the speed humps installed in the first place and, who knows, may have save a few lives. Busses take some stopping and anything coming into contact with one will, in general, come off second best. Busses need to slow down in residential areas. If the humps are too high then they should take extra care, not insist that the tax payer foot the bill for unessery removal and excessive trumped up cost. There is such a thing as hard luck – we deal with it in our lives everyday.
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I’ve driven over those humps dozens of times without any problems and I’m sure my car doesn’t have as much ground clearance as a bus.
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They are fine if you slow down, which incidentally is the whole point of them..
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All this stuff about speed bumps gives me the hump :)
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There is NO MENTION of any measures that will be effective in traffic calming!!
Along Brookside and other busy roads it is not uncommon to find motorists approaching you in the CENTRE of the road at high speeds in built-up areas.They do this to avoid the speed humps and to prevent having to slow down. Before very long a fatal accident will take place as a result of these ineffective speed humps.
I have complained to the Police Headquarters locally – and received a negative response sadly.
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Well actually ,Spencer, they are supposed to stop you “speeding”, not slow you down when you are already doing a slow sensible speed.
Many bumps in Telford cannot be taken comfortably at over 10MPH which is wrong, damging to cars and peoples spines.
Many are within the governments spec for height but have approach ramps far too steep which is where the problems arise. No two sets of ramps are constructed the same.
Ive had a seven month old exhaust damaged through speed ramp vibration (welds cracking)and that’s not exceeding the speed limit, just imagine what they do to your back.
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There’s nothing wrong with the humps if you drive at an appropriate speed.
I just hope that no kids get hurt after they are removed, especially if it was by a bus.
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This story is giving me the hump
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stick to chimneys and leave the jokes to the comedians..
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“busses need to slow down in residential areas” The bus company shouldn’t be the reason we need traffic calming they are supposed to be professional drivers.
So is the council now going to reinburse all the local residents for the damage their wrongly constructed traffic calming has caused to their vehicles??
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Is it a plane? Is it a bird?
No it’s the mighty speed bump!
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Great, more road works!
Im sure the council enjoy putting things in just to dig them up again.
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Most buses around here drive way too fast, watch any that pass the speed camera just past AGA on the Holyhead Road and see how they speed up once they are clear of that.(Or those that do the same just after the Bennets Bank camera heading into Wellington)
What about the private cars that have been damaged by all the potholes that are still waiting to be repaired, can we all claim damages here or is that restricted to just the buses?
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