MOT failure

[campbell]

Allegedly called speed "cushions" (what's soft about them I'm unsure...although some are in fact made of rubber tiles).

They are a total menace to an Elise on anything other than pram-like std ride height. The only saving grace is that if you can straddle two of them, the car actually lifts a little less and central components like number plate, base of clam etc, are actually held in the clear

But when you have to cross one centrally, you are toast. You should see the state of my undertrays...

I am guessing their purpose is to enable buses and emergency vehicles to pass with less impact. The latter I can forgive. The former is a nonsense.

[dezzy]

When I had my Elise, a hand-sized piece of fibreglass from the underside of the front clam got ripped off by a speed bump in Shawlands. The speed bump was definitely over the 100mm regulatory height restriction, was not marked with red paint or white arrows, and there were no warning signs for the speed bump. It was dark and I didn't see it. I might have made it over it okay if it was light or if it was marked and I'd known to slow down. I wasn't going that fast in the first place and it still ripped the fibreglass off.

I put a claim into GCC, chased it every week and it never got anywhere. I eventually got a letter in months later saying the claim had been rejected with no reasoning whatsoever. The only reason I didn't pursue it is because the car had been written off by then. If it hadn't, I'd have been battering down their doors for an explanation!

D

[campbell]

It's really poor Dezzy, isn't it.

I find myself thinking back to the origin of "Councils" and as I understand it, they developed as a means of supporting, guiding and governing early communities, for their common good.

But now, Councils seem to have taken on a whole raison d'etre of their own and they are just a huge machine in which I bet you half the people cannot now actually tell you what it is about their job that makes a valuable contribution to their community. However I am happy to stand corrected by any Council Worker on here, naturally.

I wrote to West Lothian council re: the housing explosion in Linlithgow, lack of parking facilities for station usage etc, and general pressure on our amenities and road network. I got a nice CRM system response within a day or two, with a ref number and everything, and an assurance of "routing to the relevant dept". Months later I'd heard nothing. I escalated the matter and got a "real" email, albeit only saying it had been passed to the planning dept but they were snowed. Well with all the rife house building applications I'm not surprised. They even had the cheek to suggest I phoned the dept myself (eh? - I raise an enquiry with the Council which I fund and I'm to do the legwork? Forget it.).

Ultimately, some 9 months later, I get a letter addressing each of my points. Accepting no responsibility for any of it, presenting one or two near-valid arguments for certain aspects, but overall leaving me pretty unconvinced and particularly objecting to the two hundred quid a month I sink into the "administration" of our community. Hm...

Campbell

[tut]

Did you see the piece on the News recently where they interviewed a Councillor as to why there were so many holes in their roads and why they were doing nothing about it?

He said that they were not filling them in as they kept the speeds down. How do you deal with a mentality like that?

tut

[campbell]

They will cause a fecking accident, that's what, with people swerving to avoid them. Total irresponsibility that is.

On the other hand, if people would stop bl**dy speeding through towns, there would be no campaigns to install them in the first place.

Is it Denmark which experimented with zero "road furniture" and found it kept speeds down naturally, as drivers were automatically more cautious etc?

[BiggestNizzy]

Is it Denmark which experimented with zero "road furniture" and found it kept speeds down naturally, as drivers were automatically more cautious etc?

I remeber that, not sure where it was it also made pedestrians less likely to get knocked down as they where more aware of cars

To Mr. Nisbet,

While you consider that East Ayrshire is particularly poor with respect to road condition , I think that you will find a similar problem throughout the country.

The condition of roads is directly related to preventative maintenance programmes employed by the Council. This largely involves the resurfacing carriageways, but also includes patching and the maintenance of drainage systems.

Roads have a design life as for any structure ,requiring the wearing course to be replaced every 15 years, however, budgets assigned to carriageway resurfacing are insufficient to meet this target. The current return period for resurfacing being in the region of every 50 to 100 years.

The current deterioration of the road networks is a direct consequence of trying to extend the design life.

I have been on east ayrshire councils case and I am about to write another email calling them all useless and providing proof haha

[campbell]

See this is the problem, trying to identify who is accountable for the difference between an agreed design life of 15 years, and a budget plan allowing for only a 50-100 years cycle (!).

I had similar text in my letter from West Lothian. They effectively blame other depts...in the same organisation. If I told my Logica customers that, they would go spare and we would be out of business.

[Alistair]

I wonder if there is a case for an environmental study into the excess amount of CO2 emissions created by those with anything other than a Chelsea tractor having to slow down, engage first gear, crawl over a speed jump (sorry - bump) before returning to the alarming speed of 20mph and then repeating - 3 or 4 times along connected streets in our town.

And whoever designed/built the triangular monstrosity of speed bumps down Preston Road in Linlithgow deserves nothing less than tortured with a blunt tea spoon. Me first.....

And while I'm at it - which West Lothian rep sent that badger out as a mobile speed reduction measure the other night - or is that pushing it a bit far....

[alicrozier]

Make a point of slowing to 1mph to crawl over then floor it, wheelspin up to speed limit in first gear, lift off (pop, burble, backfire), and threshhold brake back to 1mph (RS14's emmitting a 'pensioner drop their shopping' squeal)....and repeat.

And straddle the cusion ones btw - blocking the road if required...

I wonder if there is a case for an environmental study into the excess amount of CO2 emissions created by those with anything other than a Chelsea tractor having to slow down, engage first gear, crawl over a speed jump (sorry - bump) before returning to the alarming speed of 20mph and then repeating - 3 or 4 times along connected streets in our town.