How to drive over speed bumps

[malumbu]

Drive gently and avoid using the brakes. Back of the accelerator just before you get to the bump and then accelerate lightly over it. Repeat.

You'll average 15 - 20 mph, enjoy the smoother ride, get there just as quick, and save considerably on fuel, and wear and tear.

Now this is how 99% drive: Accelerate between the speed bumps. Bang the anchors on. Accerate between the speed bumps. Bang the anchors on. You'll average 15-20mph, you'll piss off cyclists who have to keep braking, you'll up your fuel use, accelerate the wear on your brake pads and discs, and tyres, and batter your suspension.

Does this lecture sound familar? If so you must regularly drive down Underhill Road in the morning being followed by a cyclist who is telling you how to drive properly.

[miga]

The second scenario you describe wonderfully illustrates our cosmic insignificance, if that's your bag. On my road, I watch daily as people go for the land speed record in 50m spurts, only to break furiously for avoidance of damage to their car at the next speed hump. Repeat. Sisyphean dragsters.

But yes, the technique you describe is what an instructor on a safe/advanced driving course told me to do some years ago; lightly accelerating over the hump keeps things smooth.

[Abe_froeman]

Maybe you are cycling too close to the vehicle in front?

[Lowlander]

Abe_froeman Wrote:

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> Maybe you are cycling too close to the vehicle in

> front?

What normally happens is:

-Car accelerates excessively to overtake cyclist on narrow road, forcing them to brake

-Car brakes excessively for speedbump, cyclist brakes again

-Repeat for length of road

Incidentally I watched a car literally take to the air on all four wheels as it took a speedbump on Court Lane the other morning.

[Earl Aelfheah]

i don't know in what world you can go over speed bumps between 15-20 mph. The problem is that to avoid damage to your car you have to go over them at 10mph or less, which is what leads to all the accelerating and breaking.

[steveo]

My old Mercedes would happily fly over them at fifty no braking required

Back in my tearaway days

[Earl Aelfheah]

rahrahrah Wrote:

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> i don't know in what world you can go over speed

> bumps between 15-20 mph. The problem is that to

> avoid damage to your car you have to go over them

> at 10mph or less, which is what leads to all the

> accelerating and breaking.

....which is why they're fundamentally flawed

[Earl Aelfheah]

steveo Wrote:

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> My old Mercedes would happily fly over them at

> fifty no braking required

>

> Back in my tearaway days

Your old Mercedes and every white van travelling down CPR.

[dirac]

See it all the time and have a chuckle to myself/shake head etc. Essentially if you have to hit the brakes when driving anytime, not just for speed bumps, then you have used more fuel than you needed to get to that point. I'm not talking about accidents/emergency stops and yes I do drive!

[TheArtfulDogger]

steveo Wrote:

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> My old Mercedes would happily fly over them at

> fifty no braking required

>

> Back in my tearaway days

In the 80s they had a car especially designed to fly over objects in the road at over 50mph...

... But KITT talked as well and appeared to possess AI so I am not sure I believed it was real ...

The real problem is that now the main roads are 20mph, people use the back roads at speed to try and get to their destination in the shortest possible time... The joys of forward thinking councils 🤓

[Jeremy]

Problem is that you really need to slow down to around 10mph to go over some bumps. It's not unreasonable to want to drive at, say, 20mph in between the bumps... in which case "backing off the accelerator just before the bump" is not quite going to do the trick.

Your logic is a bit flawed regarding the cyclist behind... if average speed is the same (or in reality a little bit faster), then it's not going to make much difference to the cyclist.

[Earl Aelfheah]

Speed bumps really should be designed to allow vehicles to travel up to the speed limit without the need to constantly break. Unfortunately, they don't.

I do think they're bad for cyclists as they tend to lead to constant overtaking, dropping back, overtaking etc. This significantly increases the danger for people on bikes.

[Jeremy]

rahrahrah Wrote:

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> Speed bumps really should be designed to allow

> vehicles to travel up to the speed limit without

> the need to constantly break. Unfortunately, they

> don't.

The "sinusoidal" humps work fairly well, I think.

[ratty]

Lowlander Wrote:

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>

> Incidentally I watched a car literally take to the

> air on all four wheels as it took a speedbump on

> Court Lane the other morning.

Well cool!

[Loz]

Lowlander Wrote:

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> Incidentally I watched a car literally take to the

> air on all four wheels as it took a speedbump on

> Court Lane the other morning.

Otherwise known as a 'hire car'.

[dirac]

Loz Wrote:

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> Otherwise known as a 'hire car'.

haha too true

[malumbu]

What I didn't explain was that accelerating over the bumps throws the force forward effectively lifting the car.

As a long term purveyor of speed bumps driving like this will be suitable for all vehicles except those with very low suspension, or very soft suspension, Hard suspension will have a jolt at most speeds.

The only exception is Canonobie/Nehtherby Road due to the enormous size (even I get grumpy) and if you are going down hill you have to use the brake.

Court Lane used to be daft but they have long since cut them down in size. The speed pimples eg Woood Vale which are supposed to cut down to 20mph are pointless.

In my more boy racer days driving a Capri (they were well untrendy then) I'd occasionally drive late at night with two wheels on the pavement along Court Lane as this cushioned the blow from the then excessive bumps. Very anti-social of me and almost a quarter of a century later there are now too many parked cars to ever think about a repeat.

Cycling down Urderhall just free wheeling you get up to 20mph hence my annoyance at the slow down accelerate behaviour

[Seabag]

Going up Colledge Rd, stick hard left and one wheel goes over only (I followed a Police car doing this, it's ace)

Other wise near the top go 'up' the 'down' side (on the wrong side of the road) it works a treat

Otherwise, Steveo's 'flat out' thing works

Or buy a Range Rover, which I'm up for soon is great (4.5 lots of joy)

[KirstyH]

I have just re-watched the brilliantly funny oz documentary 'cane toads' (youtube, 1988)- there's a great clip with a van careering from one side of the road to the other at high speed to kill the cane toads. I always think of that on roads with those completely pointless speed bumps with the gaps in them. What are they for anyway - ambulances?

[intexasatthe moment]

You sell speed bumps malumbu ?

[Jeremy]

Taking the court Lane bumps at a diagonal angle softens the impact... ahem.. so I hear. Won't do your car much good though!