Tuesday, November 28

Magic Hump


Speed humps we drivers have every reason to hate them. They force even good drivers to drop their speed to unnecessarily low levels, they can cause damage to both vehicle and passengers, and the process of slowing down and speeding up is bad for fuel economy there's a queue of other interested parties who haven't got a good word to say about them either. Environmentalists dislike them because they cause pollution - 80 per cent more carbon-monoxide emissions have been reported on roads with conventional humps. The emergency services say they present such an obstacle for them that they have cost lives. Residents complain about the noise humps cause; bus companies often withdraw services when they're installed on routes. Now a British company claims it has found a way of retaining the one benefit of speed humps - reducing speeding - while overcoming the downsides. The Transcalm is an inflatable rubber speed hump that uses a valve to detect vehicle speeds. If the driver is sticking to the limit, the hump deflates, enabling the car to maintain a constant speed. The valve can be tweaked so larger vehicles such as buses and the emergency services can cross them at whatever speed they like. And they're quicker to install than conventional humps, says the maker, Dunlop. What a brilliant idea,but at £2500 each I doubt we will be seeing many around here, they will stick to the big lump of tarmac method I fear.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The NOISE on your site Bob is going to stop me visiting your interesting views on the world, or should I say Barrovians.

It used to be good but now you have fallen to the sites I despise

bob mullen said...

Have you no mute button? Or do you mean something else explain more clearly please.