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Re:Drivers Complain Raised Crosswalk Slows Vehicles by ricardobeat on Saturday January 05, 2019 @03:20PM (#18833969)
The cars should already be driving below 35mph since that's the road's speed limit. These raised crosswalks are a very common sight in Europe, they help drivers be more attentive to their interaction with pedestrains. Once they are more common (and people follow the speed limits) it becomes a natural element in driving, though still a bit annoying.
Re:Drivers Complain Raised Crosswalk Slows Vehicles by dsfyu404ed on Saturday January 05, 2019 @03:28PM (#18834018)
If the overwhelming majority of drivers want to drive more than 35mph on the road than slapping a 35 or below sign on it is not going to have any meaningful effect unless you back it up with the kind of strict law enforcement that is incompatible with American ideals.

Edit: And as I said in the my other comment, if you want people to go slow you need road features that will make them want to go slow on their own. Speed bumps are far more of an insulting road feature than bushes or something to make the road feel narrow because they basically say "this road is capable of X but we're going to make you go Y and you can't do anything about it" which is why people are complaining. If you want people to go slow toss in a raised median and raised curbs to make the road feel narrow.

Re:Drivers Complain Raised Crosswalk Slows Vehicles by derefr on Saturday January 05, 2019 @03:33PM (#18834048)
No, but that's why we're not talking about a sign, but a raised crosswalk (i.e. a speedbump.) If you're going over 35mph, your car will scrape against it and possibly catch air off it, and you'll quite quickly regret going over 35mph and probably not do it again on that stretch of road.
Re:Drivers Complain Raised Crosswalk Slows Vehicles by seanmcdirmid on Saturday January 05, 2019 @03:50PM (#18834158)
Or you might be dead or your car might be wrecked.

When I was very young and very dumb, I did ~45 over a railroad track with a raised crossing. I landed OK, but it was a pretty scary experience.

Edit: some people seem to think that I'm against speed bumps to protect pedestrians because of my experience. I'm not really, I was just explaining my experience from when I was an idiot in how these bumps take speed. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

Re:Drivers Complain Raised Crosswalk Slows Vehicles by tom_ on Saturday January 05, 2019 @04:03PM (#18834247)
If the car is wrecked, this will definitely discourage the driver from doing it again.

If the driver dies, I put it to you that it was only a matter of time, whether there was a raised crossing in this place or not. This sort of careless driving is vanishingly rarely a one-off, and almost always an example of a pattern of behaviour. Let us hope that they didn't take anybody else with them.

Re:Drivers Complain Raised Crosswalk Slows Vehicles by seanmcdirmid on Saturday January 05, 2019 @04:36PM (#18834422)
It was a one off for me! When you are 15 years old with a drivers license, you are learning lots of things for the first and last time. For example, I quickly learned about hydroplaning during a heavy rain storm.
Re:Drivers Complain Raised Crosswalk Slows Vehicles by village-idiot on Saturday January 05, 2019 @04:02PM (#18834234)
Far more pedestrians are hurt and killed by vehicles than drivers are hurt by speed bumps. As someone who both drives and walks, I believe it is 100% acceptable to trash a few people’s cars (who ignored the speed limit) to reduce pedestrian fatalities.
Re:Drivers Complain Raised Crosswalk Slows Vehicles by seanmcdirmid on Saturday January 05, 2019 @04:33PM (#18834401)
Please don't assume I think this is a bad idea. I was just explaining the consequences of speeding over a bump like that, I'm completely pro speed bump as a way of slowing down traffic. Just that we can be idiots when we are kids.
Re:Drivers Complain Raised Crosswalk Slows Vehicles by barrkel on Saturday January 05, 2019 @04:16PM (#18834321)
Better a careless driver dead than an innocent pedestrian on a designated crossing.
Re:Drivers Complain Raised Crosswalk Slows Vehicles by seanmcdirmid on Saturday January 05, 2019 @04:38PM (#18834439)
This was a road in the country out in the middle of nowhere. There were no pedestrians, and the RR crossing was only protected by this bump and some lights (no gates).
Re:Drivers Complain Raised Crosswalk Slows Vehicles by arthurdenture on Saturday January 05, 2019 @03:32PM (#18834041)
No, if the majority of drivers want to drive faster than 35mph, the road is badly designed. It needs traffic calming devices, such as narrower lanes, curb extensions, and, yes, raised crosswalks. Enforcement (including automated enforcement) is a useful tool, but the start should be designing the road so that drivers naturally go at a safe speed.
Re:Drivers Complain Raised Crosswalk Slows Vehicles by skywhopper on Saturday January 05, 2019 @03:29PM (#18834030)
Yeah, that's what traffic calming measures such as raised crosswalks are for...
Re:Drivers Complain Raised Crosswalk Slows Vehicles by darkerside on Saturday January 05, 2019 @04:11PM (#18834296)
> cars should already be driving below 35mph since that's the road's speed limit

Let me stop you right there. What's generally accepted in the US--not sure about other countries--is to keep your speed less than 10 over the speed limit. This is commonly cited by new and old drivers, driving teachers, and traffic enforcement police. If cars are bottoming out when going over the bump at the speed limit, the road is built wrong.

Re:Drivers Complain Raised Crosswalk Slows Vehicles by baylisscg on Saturday January 05, 2019 @04:37PM (#18834432)
In the UK the limit is the limit. There is leeway to exceed the limit by up to 10% to allow safer overtaking (you're usually using the oncoming lane and opportunities are scarce) and to take the accuracy of car speedometers and police radar guns into account.

In Australia you can be fined, heavily, for exceeding the limit by any margin. e.g. Limit was 100kph you were clocked at 102.

If you're driving so much over the limit that you're damaging your car on a properly built speed bump you're going too fast. In the UK you'd run the risk of getting hit with "Driving without due care and attention".

Re:Drivers Complain Raised Crosswalk Slows Vehicles by darkerside on Saturday January 05, 2019 @05:22PM (#18834654)
Honestly that makes way more sense to me. As is, (almost) everybody in America is breaking the law, which means we can all be pulled over without cause at any time.

Still, system being what it is, this speed bump makes no sense in the US.