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Invisible Speed Bump Rage


acklac7

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I would have made the same comment when I was 18-24 years old. Nobody likes invisible speed bumps. But nobody likes dead children either. When someone says "I was going 25 mph (10 over), and this 2' high speed bump came out of nowhere", I interpret it as he was likely going 35mph, and not really paying attention.

 

I have the benefit of living in a neighborhood with only 10 houses. There's minimal traffic, and everyone goes slow. I feel safe when my kids go barreling down the driveway on a big wheel. If I lived in a traditional neighborhood where every idiot cut through, then yes, I would want a damn invisible barricade to smash the car of everyone cutting through. I realize that seems unreasonable

 

^^ This.

 

 

Why can't you do like other neighborhoods and put those yellow signs up telling kids to go slow? :D

 

^^ We have those and sometimes I LOL at the two neighbors who put them up along with the ones that stick in the ground. Then I realize, I'm the same way only I don't put up signs, I walk the dog with my kids, knock on the door of the people who speed and have a conversation about it with them. :o

 

Having kids changes you in ways you'd never expect. I used to be the guy that drove 35mph down side streets.

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I can only speculate that if the neighbors in this particular area didn't want these 1992 sc300 suspension killers, then the wouldn't be there. I would suppose if people weren't driving down their street, at speeds greater than the posted speed limit , then there would be no need for these parking curbs.

 

Since you see no harm in driving over the speed limit in the neighborhood where you decided to cut through, I would guess to save time, how do you see harm in the people trying to deterr you from from doing something that certainly does them no good at all?

 

It's sad that they have had to resort to this to stop people from speeding through their street. Pretty sure you won't be cutting through that road again.

 

In case you (and others missed it) Iwashmycar nailed it on the first page; the speed bumps are being put in because basically all of 5th avenue is going to get re-routed onto this street once they close 5th ave. bridge for construction.

 

That said they still need to do a better job marking the damn things.

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It looks like the HOA owns that road and if that's the case they can basically do whatever they want as it becomes private land.

 

I was on your side til I saw which street it was, the houses come basically right up against the street.

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It looks like the HOA owns that road and if that's the case they can basically do whatever they want as it becomes private land.

 

Explain?

 

I was on your side til I saw which street it was, the houses come basically right up against the street.

 

As others have said the speed bumps aren't really the issue, it's the fact they're jet black and unmarked that has me pissed off.

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It looks like the HOA owns that road and if that's the case they can basically do whatever they want as it becomes private land.

 

I was on your side til I saw which street it was, the houses come basically right up against the street.

 

do they actually own it (as in it is a fully private road in a restricted access community)? if so is the city enforcing it's easement for access? Or is it still a public road where the HOA as taken over maintenance and enforcement rights. I don't think the city can force diverting traffic down a private road unless they have existing rights to access.

 

HOA's are still bound by trespassing signage and enforcement and all basic duties of care regarding the identification of hazards. If the speed bumps are as aggressive as being claimed, then all it takes is one suit for property damage to someone's car (or worse injury to a person) for a shit storm to descend on them.

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do they actually own it (as in it is a fully private road in a restricted access community)? if so is the city enforcing it's easement for access? Or is it still a public road where the HOA as taken over maintenance and enforcement rights. .

 

It's a connected main thoroughfare between Trabue rd and 5th ave. Houses only line 1/2 of it, the other half is lined with commercial/rental properties. I doubt they (HOA) own it nor have any control over it.

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Next time drive through with your high beams on so you can see the speed bumps. If you're feeling froggy "accidentally" hit the horn every time you hit a speed bump "because it is so violent". Or just avoid it and let them deal with cleaning up the aftermath of someone elses car plowing their yard.
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Well, maybe the homeowner that owns the Mclaren in there will put up a fight. I saw him driving down riverside the other day, but his car had all the struts and suspension intact.

 

He lives down closer to the fifth avenue area in the houses.

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I would have made the same comment when I was 18-24 years old. Nobody likes invisible speed bumps. But nobody likes dead children either. When someone says "I was going 25 mph (10 over), and this 2' high speed bump came out of nowhere", I interpret it as he was likely going 35mph, and not really paying attention.

 

I have the benefit of living in a neighborhood with only 10 houses. There's minimal traffic, and everyone goes slow. I feel safe when my kids go barreling down the driveway on a big wheel. If I lived in a traditional neighborhood where every idiot cut through, then yes, I would want a damn invisible barricade to smash the car of everyone cutting through. I realize that seems unreasonable

 

I see where you're coming from but I don't buy it and here's why.

 

I lived on lots of different streets growing up. So did you, and so did everyone I know. And no one, literally not a single one of my friends growing up was ever hit by a car. How about you? Maybe. But I'll bet not. It's pretty rare. And yet, we didn't have speed bumps on my street. The signal lights didn't have walk/don't walk signs. The lights didn't turn red in all four directions when you pressed the little button that actually didn't even exist then. Hell, mostly what we had were stop signs. And car brakes were terrible back then. Drums on a lot of cars. Stopping power like they were made out of cheese.

 

But despite the utter lack of high childhood mortality in modern society, somewhere in the last 20 years or so the world went and got itself batshit crazy. Suddenly every damn thing has to be wrapped in bubble wrap, smothered in airbags, plastered with safety notices, and basically made unusable because people are convinced that their children are made out of spun glass.

 

And while I appreciate that some safety advances (seatbelts and disc brakes, for instance) are a good thing, I worry about a few of things. 1. In the short term, stuff is getting less fun. The good fireworks are the big loud ones that can blow off your fingers not the little safe pill that turns into a doofy snake when you light it on fire. The fun cars are the fast light ones (not the ones porked up with safety features). I'm sure you can think of other examples, go nuts. 2. In a word, paranoia. People seem to be losing their ability to accurately assess risk (not that anyone was ever really very good at this, but it appears to be getting worse). Almost everyone keeps their doors locked and suspects virtually all strangers of being mad rapists. But in fact, by every measurable statistic, our neighborhoods in the U.S. are safer than they've ever been and the "mad rapist/serial killer" has always been a vanishingly rare phenomenon. And don't get me started about how every week there's some new thing that we've all been consuming here on the little blue planet for a thousand years that will totally kill you in horrible ways. Pass the gluten anyone? 3. In the long term, we just may be creating a generation of people with a completely underdeveloped sense of how to deal with hazards. If every street you cross is a four-way stop on red when you push the button, what will you do someday when you have to cross a street that isn't? If every time you came within sight of water mommy slapped a life-vest on you, what will you do if you someday have to swim? Learned helplessness is a phrase that comes floating to mind pretty often these days.

 

One final thought and then I'll end this tirade. When I was in my teens, the SUV was in vogue for the first time. The idea I heard repeatedly was that the safety of the children justified this monstrous, pollution chugging, gas-guzzling, terrorism-financing (lots of oil money in terrorism back then) monstrosity. The idea seemed to be that if you just bought a big enough car, you could ensure your family's safety by crushing the life out of anything you hit. Everyone else be damned. You and your precious brood would survive. Even then, at the height of my self-absorbed teenage narcissism, I found this attitude revolting. Unjustified paranoia about child safety does not confer upon you the right to harm other people. Don't like how busy your street is? Then pack your stuff and move. Don't create road hazards in a fit of a self-righteous entitlement to trap passerby, damage their cars, and teach them some "lesson" that they won't get and have no interest in learning.

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I see where you're coming from but I don't buy it and here's why.

 

I lived on lots of different streets growing up. So did you, and so did everyone I know. And no one, literally not a single one of my friends growing up was ever hit by a car. How about you? Maybe. But I'll bet not. It's pretty rare. And yet, we didn't have speed bumps on my street. The signal lights didn't have walk/don't walk signs. The lights didn't turn red in all four directions when you pressed the little button that actually didn't even exist then. Hell, mostly what we had were stop signs. And car brakes were terrible back then. Drums on a lot of cars. Stopping power like they were made out of cheese.

 

But despite the utter lack of high childhood mortality in modern society, somewhere in the last 20 years or so the world went and got itself batshit crazy. Suddenly every damn thing has to be wrapped in bubble wrap, smothered in airbags, plastered with safety notices, and basically made unusable because people are convinced that their children are made out of spun glass.

 

And while I appreciate that some safety advances (seatbelts and disc brakes, for instance) are a good thing, I worry about a few of things. 1. In the short term, stuff is getting less fun. The good fireworks are the big loud ones that can blow off your fingers not the little safe pill that turns into a doofy snake when you light it on fire. The fun cars are the fast light ones (not the ones porked up with safety features). I'm sure you can think of other examples, go nuts. 2. In a word, paranoia. People seem to be losing their ability to accurately assess risk (not that anyone was ever really very good at this, but it appears to be getting worse). Almost everyone keeps their doors locked and suspects virtually all strangers of being mad rapists. But in fact, by every measurable statistic, our neighborhoods in the U.S. are safer than they've ever been and the "mad rapist/serial killer" has always been a vanishingly rare phenomenon. And don't get me started about how every week there's some new thing that we've all been consuming here on the little blue planet for a thousand years that will totally kill you in horrible ways. Pass the gluten anyone? 3. In the long term, we just may be creating a generation of people with a completely underdeveloped sense of how to deal with hazards. If every street you cross is a four-way stop on red when you push the button, what will you do someday when you have to cross a street that isn't? If every time you came within sight of water mommy slapped a life-vest on you, what will you do if you someday have to swim? Learned helplessness is a phrase that comes floating to mind pretty often these days.

 

One final thought and then I'll end this tirade. When I was in my teens, the SUV was in vogue for the first time. The idea I heard repeatedly was that the safety of the children justified this monstrous, pollution chugging, gas-guzzling, terrorism-financing (lots of oil money in terrorism back then) monstrosity. The idea seemed to be that if you just bought a big enough car, you could ensure your family's safety by crushing the life out of anything you hit. Everyone else be damned. You and your precious brood would survive. Even then, at the height of my self-absorbed teenage narcissism, I found this attitude revolting. Unjustified paranoia about child safety does not confer upon you the right to harm other people. Don't like how busy your street is? Then pack your stuff and move. Don't create road hazards in a fit of a self-righteous entitlement to trap passerby, damage their cars, and teach them some "lesson" that they won't get and have no interest in learning.

 

 

Long ass argumentative multiple paragraph detailed responses are my shtick man. Back off ;)

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Long ass argumentative multiple paragraph detailed responses are my shtick man. Back off ;)

 

Well... If this town isn't big enough for the two of us, perhaps a duel? Nerf guns only though. Anything else could poke out an eye. ;)

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I see where you're coming from but I don't buy it and here's why.

 

I lived on lots of different streets growing up. So did you, and so did everyone I know. And no one, literally not a single one of my friends growing up was ever hit by a car. How about you? Maybe. But I'll bet not. It's pretty rare. And yet, we didn't have speed bumps on my street. The signal lights didn't have walk/don't walk signs. The lights didn't turn red in all four directions when you pressed the little button that actually didn't even exist then. Hell, mostly what we had were stop signs. And car brakes were terrible back then. Drums on a lot of cars. Stopping power like they were made out of cheese.

 

But despite the utter lack of high childhood mortality in modern society, somewhere in the last 20 years or so the world went and got itself batshit crazy. Suddenly every damn thing has to be wrapped in bubble wrap, smothered in airbags, plastered with safety notices, and basically made unusable because people are convinced that their children are made out of spun glass.

 

And while I appreciate that some safety advances (seatbelts and disc brakes, for instance) are a good thing, I worry about a few of things. 1. In the short term, stuff is getting less fun. The good fireworks are the big loud ones that can blow off your fingers not the little safe pill that turns into a doofy snake when you light it on fire. The fun cars are the fast light ones (not the ones porked up with safety features). I'm sure you can think of other examples, go nuts. 2. In a word, paranoia. People seem to be losing their ability to accurately assess risk (not that anyone was ever really very good at this, but it appears to be getting worse). Almost everyone keeps their doors locked and suspects virtually all strangers of being mad rapists. But in fact, by every measurable statistic, our neighborhoods in the U.S. are safer than they've ever been and the "mad rapist/serial killer" has always been a vanishingly rare phenomenon. And don't get me started about how every week there's some new thing that we've all been consuming here on the little blue planet for a thousand years that will totally kill you in horrible ways. Pass the gluten anyone? 3. In the long term, we just may be creating a generation of people with a completely underdeveloped sense of how to deal with hazards. If every street you cross is a four-way stop on red when you push the button, what will you do someday when you have to cross a street that isn't? If every time you came within sight of water mommy slapped a life-vest on you, what will you do if you someday have to swim? Learned helplessness is a phrase that comes floating to mind pretty often these days.

 

One final thought and then I'll end this tirade. When I was in my teens, the SUV was in vogue for the first time. The idea I heard repeatedly was that the safety of the children justified this monstrous, pollution chugging, gas-guzzling, terrorism-financing (lots of oil money in terrorism back then) monstrosity. The idea seemed to be that if you just bought a big enough car, you could ensure your family's safety by crushing the life out of anything you hit. Everyone else be damned. You and your precious brood would survive. Even then, at the height of my self-absorbed teenage narcissism, I found this attitude revolting. Unjustified paranoia about child safety does not confer upon you the right to harm other people. Don't like how busy your street is? Then pack your stuff and move. Don't create road hazards in a fit of a self-righteous entitlement to trap passerby, damage their cars, and teach them some "lesson" that they won't get and have no interest in learning.

 

I see where you're coming from. You make some valid points, but you're wrong in this case. I hate the anti-gluten bullshit, and would agree some things are taken overboard

 

 

Don't know anyone who's ever hit someone with their car in a tragic accident? Consider yourself lucky. A very good friend hit and killed a child that ran out in front of his car 15 years ago. He was going the speed limit, and just couldn't stop. Although cleared of any wrongdoing, this has absolutely haunted him everyday. Would a slower speed limit or speed bumps prevented this? Maybe. Who knows.

 

While some things (all the ninnies you speak of--blind spot assist, lane avoidance, speed sensitive cruise, etc) seem unnecessary, others have undeniably made a difference in safety---pedestrian impact bumper technology, crumple zones in cars, multiple airbags, etc.

 

Speed bumps slow cars down, and make people get their eyes on the road. Did you worry about people talking or texting on their phone when you were a child playing in the street in the '80's and '90's? I didn't, and neither did my parents. You bet your ass I worry about that now--and either you don't have kids, or are not thinking clearly. At one point or another, I've been guilty of texting, talking, and checking emails while driving. I try as much as I can to avoid it---every teen driving these days is on their phone. Take a close look next time you're out. Sure, it's against the law, so is speeding.

 

You can still buy the good fireworks, I live 5 minutes from a store that sells legit m80's. Although it's called a party fountain, there's no fountain. Just an explosion that can take out a mailbox.

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To paraphrase an old airplane adage: there is nothing more useless than the speed bump behind you.

 

Aside from bens comment, I don't think anybody is objecting to the speed bumps, just that they aren't marked clearly and visibly to act as a deterrent without potentially causing harm. That speed bump you were just surprised by? Yeah if there isn't another one looming in the distance then it past done and mostly forgotten. The value isn the speed bump is as a visible threatening deterrent to cause people to slow down, if the don't see it and don't slow and hit it and nothing happens to their car then what did it do?

 

I do have to side with Ben on this though. Growing up I had lots of friends hit by cars, some of them killed. The earliest one I can remember was a classmate in 4th grade. I've been hit by cars plenty of times on bicycles, walking, etc...and honestly I can't think of a single instance where a speed bump would have prevented the crash or even remotely helped the situation. But I grew up in NYC where traffic is a way of life and not a mild inconvenience to the homeowner.

 

I did get winged by a 1986 full size Buick station wagon for sleeping with a friend's ex girlfriend in college. Maybe if they put speed bumps on the approach to her ass I wouldn't have been hit by that car....I just don't know logistically how you would do it. Is there a homeowners association for asses? How would I have gotten them involved?

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Well... If this town isn't big enough for the two of us, perhaps a duel? Nerf guns only though. Anything else could poke out an eye. ;)

 

CR Debate Night: Topics are picked from a hat and could include...

 

-Gun control

-Why women should stay in the damn kitechen

-Who wins in a fight, Ohio State Football or Chuck Norris

-Cars Clay won't modify

 

You will be judged on:

-original content

-use of profanity

-points will be taken away based on how soon you go to personal insults about the person you are locked in battle with based on their looks.

 

Winners will be picked by a group of drunk CR Members who are not subject matter experts on anything, and might have sketchy morals and values.

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^^ This.

 

 

 

^^ We have those and sometimes I LOL at the two neighbors who put them up along with the ones that stick in the ground. Then I realize, I'm the same way only I don't put up signs, I walk the dog with my kids, knock on the door of the people who speed and have a conversation about it with them. :o

 

Having kids changes you in ways you'd never expect. I used to be the guy that drove 35mph down side streets.

Just in case you missed it, I worded my response in a jokingly and very specific way.

"...put those yellow signs up telling kids to go slow?"

Pay close attention to the wording... ;)

 

What I was basically saying is to keep your damn children our of the street and if they're too damn stupid to run out there, perhaps they're too "slow" to be running around by themselves.

 

Of course, I'm jokingly being overly harsh. I will say, however, I have lived right near a main street with a child who played outside. No speedbumps, no signs, etc. However, I was able to responsibly and safely raise my child to adult hood without destroying every lowrider that rolled though; of which there were many where I lived at the time.

 

And Tim, you can bet your ass I don't have an issue confronting, politely the first time, someone who's habitually driving like an ass with complete disregard and I don't even have kids to worry about anymore.

 

As was mentioned above, most don't necessarily have issues w/speed bumps, (To be fair, nobody actually likes them, though.), but from the sounds of it, the OP's speed bumps may've been overkill. For me, the general gist of this thread's debate now concerns physical speed deterrents that are overkill w/disregard to the actual drivers and their autos.

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So I lied, I guess it has white stripes across the top. That said you can hardly see them from a distance when it's light out...Why not just paint the fucking thing yellow?

 

Look at this fucking thing, I crawled over it and still thought I was for sure going to scrape my oil pan.

 

http://i.imgur.com/g5IUpMKl.jpg

 

A ride-height view from maybe 20 yards away, can barley make out the white notches.

 

http://i.imgur.com/StSZ7DGl.png

 

 

75 Yards: You can't really see the structure itself, sort of blends in to the road. :mad:

 

http://i.imgur.com/7dyAfDyl.png

 

And Finally a NORMAL, MARKED, SPEED BUMP for comparison.

 

http://i.imgur.com/oscUPV2l.png

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^^^. This post does not help your case. I can see that bump much easier than the last pic of a speed hump, aside from the sign. I can easily see it from three houses away, which is more than 75 yards, unless the houses are mini houses, and it looks like they are not. Not to mention the bumps are black, and the road is grey. They stick out!!

 

The houses are extremely close to the road. I wouldn't want someone going 35 mph through there, which is exactly what would happen without the bumps, and a speed limit of 25mph.

 

The closeup of the bump is unimpressive. Without a ruler to judge size, it looks like a small bump. Don't know what else to tell you. If your oil pan is scuffing that, your car is too low. If you want to look super awesome with a low car, don't bitch when you hit road obstacles

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I crawled over it and still thought I was for sure going to scrape my oil pan.

 

http://i.imgur.com/g5IUpMKl.jpg

 

 

 

THAT'S the speed bump this post is about? :wtf: How freaking low is your car that it causes your oil pan to scrape? Check your headlights too as if you're not seeing that at night, your lights need re-aimed. I mean I can see it slamming a strut hard the first time if you were going 25+mph but then if you can't see the speed control device at 25mph then that's too fast to begin with.

 

BTW, what's the sight facing the other direction say?

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He hit it at night though no? No raised reflectors. No signs. No way you'll see a black line on the pavement at night in time to react, even at a relatively sedate 25mph.

 

Also, I must say, I think I am thinking clearly and rationally about this rather than making it an emotional issue precisely because I don't have children. When it comes to public policy and urban planning, emotional considerations are valid. But if feelings and irrational levels of fear drive your analysis, it almost always leads to unwise conclusions.

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He hit it at night though no? No raised reflectors. No signs. No way you'll see a black line on the pavement at night in time to react, even at a relatively sedate 25mph.

 

You think? Hell, the lights on our van or my cars are great and light up well ahead. Our side street is dark outside the house lights many leave on and i usually hit the high beams just because you never know if there's a knucklehead jogging neighbor. I'm 1005 confident that normally adjusted low beams would be sufficient at 25mph to see that speed bump. Also, on a dark side street with no traffic like that, one should be using their high beams too.

 

http://www.beyond.ca/i/night-driving.jpg

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