Do people on this forum often encounter motor vehicles in the opposite carriageway entering your carriageway to straddle a centre of road located speed bump? I often come across this behaviour on Mountcastle Drive North in Northfield. On this street, the speed bumps are installed in sets of three with one in each carriageway and one in the centre of the road. I am guessing these are installed elsewhere in the city. These can been seen here.
The speed bumps do have some speed reduction effect. However, with a speed bump in the middle, often drivers will partially enter the opposite carriageway to straddle the centre bump. This is not so much of an issue if there are no parked cars and you are in secondary position. However as often is the case there are often parked cars on both sides and it is unnerving having a motor vehicle drifting over into your carriageway. Some drivers seem to not register a cyclist as traffic and will not keep over to their own side of the road. I find that adopting a “super primary” position, i.e. 30 cm from the centre line, does encourage drivers to stay in their own lane.
The same road has a few chicanes. A recidivist rump of drivers on the give priority side of the chicanes seem not to perceive that it applies to an oncoming person on a bike. Some assertive road positioning does impel the majority of miscreants to give priority. It is a poor reflection of standards that to negotiate a mundane residential road requires quite a degree of resoluteness. Fine for those of us happy to display a degree of firmness on the bike; not so great for those who are less confident.
On nearby Duddingston Road, the similar sets of three x speed bumps were recently replaced with sets of two, both in the centre of each carriageway. Prior to this most drivers would happily enter the cycle lanes to avoid the bump(s). The new layout has improved matters. However, I have seen a few drivers drive across the whole cycle lane to avoid bumps.
I don’t know if continuous bumps are required but these do have their own disadvantages for the emergency services
posts
