Well.....

I'm on nights tonight so last night/this morning I managed to stay up until 6am so I could go to bed in the day and sync up for the night shift.

Only at 8.30, I get a call from the g/f that she has broken down and is at nantwich Sainsburys.

Great - A51 at rush hour = nowhere fast and i'm in a very tired irritable mood.

SO I take a few shortcuts to try and avoid the gridlock as you do.

Unfortunately, I went down a road near a school.

Not normally a problem except for the Mini Mount Everests in the middle of the road.

After scraping over the first one, I come to something that would scare bigfoot.

I try to go over, but immediately ground my bumper and reverse back of...BUMP!

Yep - the car behind is jammed up my ar5e and I reversed into it

So minimal damage to the S (cracked paint on the towing eye and some other small hairline cracks) and a small crack in the front number plate of the Mini (which I don't think I did - but what the hell - whiplash claims and all that i'll happily pay the

 

I believe that there are regulations that cover those things and they specify height, width and curvature/angle of the slopes. If they don't fit those regs then you may have a claim on the council for a new bumper!

I'll have google and see if I can find the regs online.

EDIT: Found this

Road Hump Dimensions
Road humps constructed to meet the regulations must be between the heights of 25mm and 100mm respectively and have a minimum length of 900mm. To limit the effects of vehicle grounding, it is recommended that the ramp gradients of road humps should not be steeper than 1:10. Other considerations such as inclines, presence of buses, etc. along a route may demand shallower gradients. Humps may either be curved or flat topped. More severe humps, which reduce vehicle speeds to 10mph or less, may be used on private roads, but are not permitted on the public highway.

from here

 

you're not the first to get pee'd off with speed humps.

i came out of a local (never visited before) halfords last night, to realise that the 'out' ramp (hill more like) was so steep and the bricks either side were so close to the bodywork i couldn't adjust angle. Only thing i could do, was go down said hill at less than snail's pace and prey. And that's an s, with OEM suspension and a front splitter!

Loooong!

The thing about speed humps that always got me, the people who're quickest - lowered, sportier cars struggle to get over them at anything above crawl pace. Those who drive 4x4s (i refuse to associate the word Sports, Utility & Vehicle because they're definately NOT sporty - regardless of a supercharger or two) and the other fav of mine, kids in bloody 106s and rubbish old cars who fly about over speed humps!

Argh... i hear your pain 'Sonik

 

It's Spacktard Utility Vehicle.

Or if a coupe, a Spacktard Arsehole Vehicle.

Their enormous mass (and the vehicle's) means huge suspension repair bills in the future, so it's the soggy froggy drivers who will have the last laugh.

 

Thanks fistral.

I'm sure that the 1:10 gradient is exceeded, but i'll go and take my measuring tape and find out

I know it's next to a school, but it's just silly!

Even a bloke who was in a Shogun who had stopped said it was daft!

I will be looking for a new exhaust soon. The BC IV is the ideal exhaust in everyway, but now I have lowered my car, the midbox is too low

I'll have to see if I can raise it

 

I think all BC exhausts are low in the middle Ron, my mate have one on his EP3 a spec 3 and that was really low!

 

How low is your car exactly?

I'm thinking about a subtle drop with eibach springs - but with an OEM front lip I'm worried about scraping everywhere!

Speed bumps are fine as long as they're not stupidly high!!

 

Ron,

I'm afraid you have little chance.
a) The 1:10 gradient is only a recommendation, not a regulation
b) You have a lowered car with extra bits that make it even lower
c) You reversed into a car without looking properly.

You'll probably have to take it bent over

 

Which road was this (need to know to avoid it!!)?



Sorry to hear about your mishap

 

Yeah, you are probably right.

I'm not worried about the car I reversed into as I acknowledge that as 100% my fault.

But why have these stupid things in the middle of the road?

Yes, my car is low, but a Standard S wouldn't have been able to tackle it either.

There should be signs indicating how high these things are to avoid extortionate road tax payers, like me, from going down there.

I mean, there are always sign for maximum height, why not minimum?