speed humps and traffic calming

[tubby74]

Background : relatively quiet suburban street, never had any problems in 12 years even though it is a minor short cut for some light trucks and cars

due to some busy bodies in the local group, we've now got speed humps installed, the kind that are two small humps, one for each lane. in the last 2 weeks I;'ve been run off the road by a car trying to get their passenger tyre around the outside, and also had an incident when some elderly cyclists decided to veer out into the middle of the road to get through the gap without looking at what was around then. This is quite apart from the noise that keeps several houses up all night.

Council also objects to these humps, RMS insists on them. the community group who wants them ignore all conflicting input. Councillors and mayor feel they can do nothing. Got a group of residents very angry about these things being installed, does anyone have any experience to offer in how best to get these things removed? Other than pitchforks, a jerry can and some matches

[Bentnose]

I find they're good for getting air off.

[lethoso]

Background : relatively quiet suburban street, never had any problems in 12 years even though it is a minor short cut for some light trucks and cars

due to some busy bodies in the local group, we've now got speed humps installed, the kind that are two small humps, one for each lane. in the last 2 weeks I;'ve been run off the road by a car trying to get their passenger tyre around the outside, and also had an incident when some elderly cyclists decided to veer out into the middle of the road to get through the gap without looking at what was around then. This is quite apart from the noise that keeps several houses up all night.

Council also objects to these humps, RMS insists on them. the community group who wants them ignore all conflicting input. Councillors and mayor feel they can do nothing. Got a group of residents very angry about these things being installed, does anyone have any experience to offer in how best to get these things removed? Other than pitchforks, a jerry can and some matches

I think you're making a little bit of a mountain out of a molehill (or speed hump in this case I guess) but you're mostly right - traffic calming is generally bad for cyclists.

Ride big through the speed humps - if you're getting run off the road you're too far left. Claim your place in the road (it's a suburban street with traffic calming, anyone who objects to you doing this is the arsehole) and you won't get anyone forcing you out. If they're the kind I'm thinking of you should be able to hit them at a decent pace with no issue - certainly faster than a car can take them.

As for getting the removed - good luck. Maybe go door to door with a petition or something, but personally I don't think you have much chance.

[Oxford]

speed humps are actually quite bad on suburban streets because people often accelerate hard between them making more exhaust noise than they would just coasting, thus disturbing the residents even more.

how often do you see idiots accelerating hard, then braking hard for a very short distance simply because they can?

if they want to stop the rat run and keep it quiet then the entrance/exit needs to be looked at, not the middle of the rat run. restrict right and/or left turns at set times or change the layout so they cannot be done at all.

I recommend that you come up with a solution to the original problem rather than just try to have the existing hardware removed. that way you stand a better chance of success.

[il padrone]

Also it has proven generally better to use street paving and lack of clear road edge definition a la woonerfs to slow up speedsters.

[Mulger bill]

I find they're good for getting air off.

Works for me.

Council installed 'em in a street I used to live in, nice bit of road with bikelanes/parking each side. Clowns used to roar around 'em in the bikelane so council decided to fix it in a way that makes riders lives even harder. G Map Mitchells Lane, Sunbury if you like.

[Oxford]

... G Map Mitchells Lane, Sunbury if you like.

LOL, just looked, some road designers have their heads planted firmly where the sun don't shine.

[Mulger bill]

Proves none of 'em ride Sweepers can't get in and they won't send a broom gang out so those areas are ankle deep in good for the roses.

[il padrone]

We've got that here too (under the pine trees ).

Since this Streetmap image they've further improved them (and narrowed them) by putting tabletops alongside in the traffic lane, with wider concrete plinths

[Mulger bill]

What the ....???

If there is a roads or municipal engineer on board here, please tell me exactly what the hell those little islands are supposed to achieve.

[zero]

What the ....???

If there is a roads or municipal engineer on board here, please tell me exactly what the hell those little islands are supposed to achieve.

It would depend on the designer.

it was probably originally just meant to be a visual narrower (which discourages speeding by reducing apparent space on the road), that they've decided to try let the bikes on the other side. It does have the utility of being a very "interesting" enforcer for the halfwits that drive offset in a line of traffic - but one imagines the first halfwit to do that there will in fact sue the council for damages after the inevitable.

There is one on Anzac Parade here, that is both perpetually full of crap, and corked by a car parked at the far end of it that has been there for 100% of my rides past it. As per usual, I change lanes before it...

[il padrone]

it was probably originally just meant to be a visual narrower (which discourages speeding by reducing apparent space on the road), that they've decided to try let the bikes on the other side. It does have the utility of being a very "interesting" enforcer for the halfwits that drive offset in a line of traffic - but one imagines the first halfwit to do that there will in fact sue the council for damages after the inevitable.

The pseudo-bike lanes* have been there for over 20 years AFAIK, long before the splitter islands were installed. Yes, they were visual narrowing devices to slow traffic speeds (50kmh residential road), but the stupid thing is all the road crap, leaves, pine-needles, branches, pine-cones etc. gathers in the bike lane. Street sweepers cannot get in there so the bike-lane conditions become hazardous. I mostly ride just to the right of the white line. Now with the traffic tables it makes the road ride a bumpy one, and at one of the narrowing points, the bike lane is restricted to <120cm, just after a bend, with close roadside bushes


* even today I don't think there is a bike sign on a pole (legal requirement), just a bike logo on the lane.

[Baalzamon]

G Map Mitchells Lane, Sunbury if you like.

Like my trike could get thru that, sorry I'm taking car lane and taking a speed bump, or I'm one side on dirt/grass above kerb and avoiding speed bumps.

[Mulger bill]

Yep, that's what I do, I've punctured once too often taking the "legitimate" toute.

[tubby74]

Ride big through the speed humps - if you're getting run off the road you're too far left. Claim your place in the road (it's a suburban street with traffic calming, anyone who objects to you doing this is the arsehole) and you won't get anyone forcing you out. If they're the kind I'm thinking of you should be able to hit them at a decent pace with no issue - certainly faster than a car can take them.

As for getting the removed - good luck. Maybe go door to door with a petition or something, but personally I don't think you have much chance.

unfortunately it's not a case of simply claiming the lane always. the road isn't very wide, 3 car widths, so sometimes it's single car at a time, sometimes it's wide enough for cars to get by no matter what you do. The problem then is they see the bump and react to try and get through it as best they can. One is placed outside my house and we have a small cut through type street beside us. We've had more than one car decide at the last minute to avoid the speed hump to turn down the street only to not make it, ending up with wheels on the kerb. And this is a street kinds have to cross to get to school.

The safety issue is only part of the problem, but that's the part I was hoping for advise on from here as it's a safety focused forum. The other issue is of course the noise. Bumps are noisy, tradies with their gear in the back, 4wd's that hit without slowing make a racket at all hours, and probably just as bad are the people who slow to a crawl then rev the engine to get back up to speed.

I got confronted by another irate neighbour this week so we're gathering momentum from people affected, the trouble seems to be anyone we can complain to (council, state MP) just says they cannot do anything, its the RMS's call. And the RMS has no complaints process apart from email which they ignore.

[zero]

You can probably phone the council, find out who is responsible for road maint in the council, and make them schedule a meeting with your informal residents action group - just the act of changing from a complaint to trying to schedule a meeting about it often works.

The council is in fact capable of contacting the RMS on your behalf and registering a complaint on your behalf, and requesting a representative show up to a meeting on your behalf. They just can't be bothered unless you bug them sufficiently.

[jules21]

Background : relatively quiet suburban street, ..

Council also objects to these humps, RMS insists on them.

i don't understand how RMS can "insist" on them - if it's a "quiet suburban street", usually that means it's under control of the council.

[trailgumby]

Background : relatively quiet suburban street, ..

Council also objects to these humps, RMS insists on them.

i don't understand how RMS can "insist" on them - if it's a "quiet suburban street", usually that means it's under control of the council.

That's correct.

After a couple of meetings that will inevitably go nowhere quickly ("government pace" for change being inevitably glacial), you can actually turn that slowness to respond to your advantage.

Alternative two is for a handful of neighbours to buy a crowbar each and organise a nocturnal mission (not that type!) and resolve the problem yourselves.

It then becomes much harder and politically more difficult in view of the agitation by residents against them to then go back and put it in over the top of their concerns. At worst you'll have a couple of years noise free while they dither about how to respond to your civil disobedience.

[zero]

Background : relatively quiet suburban street, ..

Council also objects to these humps, RMS insists on them.

i don't understand how RMS can "insist" on them - if it's a "quiet suburban street", usually that means it's under control of the council.

If the road is classified, the RMS is allowed to act as the road authority. Classifications include the "secondary" road classification - which is a road that relieves some burden from a more important road.

[jules21]

If the road is classified, the RMS is allowed to act as the road authority. Classifications include the "secondary" road classification - which is a road that relieves some burden from a more important road.

correct me if i'm wrong, but this is unlikely to include local backstreets?

[tubby74]

no idea why the RMS is invovled but it is. The traffic department at council seems to think that since RMS is paying for the installations that us residents should be satisfied with it all. I've already had a meeting with the council (mayor and 2 senior traffic engineers) who all showed sympathy but stated it was an RMS condition of making the suburb a 40 zone that they also put in the speed humps.

Seems that the residents who pushed for the 40 zone in the suburb do not actually live on the route that is affected, and are avoiding any input on the matter.

btw, the comment about the bumps being good for air, well they aren't that big but during school holidays a couple of them were in regular use by kids on scooters

[jules21]

ok, that makes sense. i believe RMS must approve all changes of speed limits. obviously that empowers them to impose conditions on those approvals. the council still have final say though - they can refuse, although they won't get the change of speed limit.

[il padrone]

Who or what is RMS anyway?

[jules21]

Who or what is RMS anyway?

VicRoads north of the border

[trailgumby]

Who or what is RMS anyway?

VicRoads north of the border

Rudely Managed Streets.