Kirkby Times has mentioned the Road Humps which have been built all over Northwood's roads.
These Road Humps along with the intensive high resolution CCTV coverage in Northwood are
supposedly there to provide a safer environment for us. The contract for the Road Humps
here will have been in the sums of hundreds of thousands of pounds, no-one has so far
been able to furnish details of the companies awarded these very lucrative contracts
or the people who actually chose the contractors. It seems that many of the arguments
offered in favour of the road humps have been misleading. Some people believe that
the contractors who build the Road Humps actually know the Road Humps are useless.
Are we being conned here? It seems we are.
Police Admit they can 'skim over' the Humps at 70mph.
The main argument for the Road humps here in Northwood is obvious. Stolen
Cars are top of the list, but any speeding car is a danger in a built up
residential area. However, the Police who have backed road humps admit
themselves that a car can easily 'skim over' the humps at 70 mph. Sgt
Mike Peck of Humberside Police's stolen vehicle pursuit team says of the
forces Subaru Impreza Turbo "We decided to leave the standard suspension
alone because it combines excellent damping with long spring travel. It
allows us to skim over 'traffic calming' humps at 70 mph and the sump guard
helps prevent damage." Kirkby Times can confirm to having had numerous witness
reports of stolen cars skimming over the humps at a very high speed.
The Police here too have gone over humps at very high speeds. So why
do they support the idea? Perhaps they, like the Council simply haven't
researched the matter enough. It's true that the majority of drivers in
Northwood will slow down for humps, but the majority of drivers are not
going to endanger pedestrians and as we will see, any lives possibly
saved through the humps are a trade off for many more lives lost.
Road Humps Kill far more people than they save
Road Humps take up to 10 seconds off the time a fire engine or Ambulance
can take to get to an incident. Depending on the Route taken, it could mean
traveling over a dozen or more road humps here in Kirkby. Research by the Fire Department
in Portland, Oregon, USA, first showed that a fire engine is delayed by
up to 10 seconds per hump. A Fire Engine leaving Kirkby Station could be
delayed by up to 2 minutes or more. You only need count the humps from the
fire station to your house to work out the potential delay. An analysis carried out
for the City of Boulder, Colorado, shows that 85 people are likely to die
due to delays to emergency vehicles, for every one life that may be saved
by speed humps. Real comforting stuff isn't it? Road Humps are another
idea rushed through without so much as a quick search on google search
engine by the idiots who back the plans. How many people were involved
in the decision making process here in Kirkby? Maybe they'd like to
email Kirkby Times with an explanation of how they rubber stamped
the idea and allowed the contactors to make a killing. These humps
will cost lives in Kirkby, not save them.
You don't have to believe Kirkby Times!
"For every life saved through traffic calming, more are lost because of ambulance delays."
Sigurd Reinton, Chairman, London Ambulance Service; Jan 2003.
"They affect our attendance times. Each ramp delays our attendance by ten
seconds. In fires, minutes can cost lives."
Divisional Officer Dean Johns, London Fire Brigade; Oct 2002.
"We have certain standards to meet and we have to have vehicles
at the scene of a Category A emergency within eight minutes. That's
a life-or-death situation like a heart attack. Before road humps came
in we used to be able to get from the station to Acomb within the
required time, but now it can take up to ten minutes."
Geoff Farnworth, divisional officer, North Yorkshire Ambulance Service; 26 June 2000
The United Kingdom of Bulls**t
The statistics and the quotes by members of our emergency
services seem to indicate that road humps are not the answer.
The road humps are in fact another problem adding to deaths and
injuries by default. A typical New Labour solution, barely thought
about by those who ultimately decided it would be a good idea to
tear up the roads and put in 'inverted potholes'. The people who
build these things are laughing all the way to the bank. We are
being conned. Your Government is lying to you, again. If they can
lie about this, they can and will lie about anything. Welcome to
the United Kingdom of Bulls**t.
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