Speed bumps only give drivers the hump

Oct 30 2008 West Lothian Courier

I HAVE never felt the need to raise issue with any of the previous absurd attempts of West Lothian Council to "improve" Armadale, such as the port-a-loo at The Cross, or pelican crossings every hundred yards on the main street, or one-direction-at-a-time lights at Bathville cross.

However, I feel I must express my complete dismay at the construction of the speed bumps on the approach to Armadale.

I would be very interested to find out the evidence that was gathered to justify their construction, such as excessive average speeds, high accident rates, public demand. Does such evidence exist? What alternatives to the speed bumps were considered?

I am opposed to the speed bumps for several reasons, primarily: they damage vehicle suspension; complete lack of justification.

This is not a road in a housing scheme, there are no schools nearby, pedestrians are few and far between; speed bumps are unbearable for those of us who suffer from back pain; why waste money here when there is greater need for road investment elsewhere in the town?

When we have icy weather there will be car accidents caused by sharp breaking on approach to the speed bumps; such severe and numerous speed bumps are an impediment to the emergency services; it's the A89, the DFT website defines an A-road as a trunk or principal road that tends to have heavy traffic flows though not as high as motorways.

What next, speed bumps on dual carriageways?

Additionally, were the speed bumps constructed using public money or were they subsidised by the new housing development at the dog track?

I would suspect that such frivolous and unnecessary work would only be carried out with the financial assistance of the developer as some sort of condition of planning. Is this the case?

A straw poll of my friends, family and neighbours shows that I am not alone in this opinion and I thought, for all the good that it would do, that I would attempt to get some answers and express the general bad feeling towards these works.

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