3 ms·

You're not supposed to like them; and really the only people that are inconvenienced by them are those going to fast anyway.

sliverstorm 9y ago
Some of them are pretty awful, making the whole car shudder even when you creep across slower-than-idle. (This is typically the ones that look more like a 2x4 than a hump)
BoorishBears 9y ago
That's not true, my car scrapes on them at practically any speed. People with slightly higher cars than mine scrape because they try to brake, forcing their suspension to compress, then go over the bump. There's so much ceremony to going over a speed bump that I think plenty of people not going that fast are inconvenienced. whether that inconvience is worth the net benefit is a separate issue.
- GordonS 9y ago
  Same hear, Nissan 350Z scrapes most speed bumps even going as slow as is possible. Also, they don't work for a lot of cars - I see lots of cars (presumably without stiff suspension) fly over the things at quite high speed. It seems that at certain high speeds, if you straddle them just right, you don't have to slow down at all.
  - BoorishBears 9y ago
    Yup, on cars with soft suspensions you can actually get more clearance by speeding up right as you reach the speed bump, since weight transfer will push the front end of the car up
greedo 9y ago
Austin has some speed bumps that I didn't notice on my first visit. It felt like the transmission had dropped out of my rental. After that I was as careful as can be to watch out for them. Austin also has a nice concept of "Don't block the box" for their intersections. In my neck of the Midwest, people always wait in the intersection, and it slows down traffic immensely. You get a green signal, then have to wait for the three cars in the intersection to move...
Phrodo_00 9y ago
Well made speed bumps are like that, but it's full of badly made ones (too narrow or too high) that make your car jump and wreck your suspension even when going at half the speed limit.
astura 9y ago
Emergency vehicles usually are usually inconvenienced by them. I also imagine they might cause problems with snow plows.

sliverstorm 9y ago

Some of them are pretty awful, making the whole car shudder even when you creep across slower-than-idle. (This is typically the ones that look more like a 2x4 than a hump)

BoorishBears 9y ago

That's not true, my car scrapes on them at practically any speed. People with slightly higher cars than mine scrape because they try to brake, forcing their suspension to compress, then go over the bump. There's so much ceremony to going over a speed bump that I think plenty of people not going that fast are inconvenienced. whether that inconvience is worth the net benefit is a separate issue.

GordonS 9y ago
Same hear, Nissan 350Z scrapes most speed bumps even going as slow as is possible. Also, they don't work for a lot of cars - I see lots of cars (presumably without stiff suspension) fly over the things at quite high speed. It seems that at certain high speeds, if you straddle them just right, you don't have to slow down at all.
- BoorishBears 9y ago
  Yup, on cars with soft suspensions you can actually get more clearance by speeding up right as you reach the speed bump, since weight transfer will push the front end of the car up

greedo 9y ago

Austin has some speed bumps that I didn't notice on my first visit. It felt like the transmission had dropped out of my rental. After that I was as careful as can be to watch out for them. Austin also has a nice concept of "Don't block the box" for their intersections. In my neck of the Midwest, people always wait in the intersection, and it slows down traffic immensely. You get a green signal, then have to wait for the three cars in the intersection to move...

Phrodo_00 9y ago

Well made speed bumps are like that, but it's full of badly made ones (too narrow or too high) that make your car jump and wreck your suspension even when going at half the speed limit.

astura 9y ago

Emergency vehicles usually are usually inconvenienced by them. I also imagine they might cause problems with snow plows.