Evergreen/Shawnee Speed Bumps

[Mibz]

What the fuck?
Who the fuck?
Why the fuck?

I'm sorry I don't have pics but they've just put HUGE speed bumps along Evergreen St and Shawnee Dr. The signs claim traffic management. What traffic?

I dunno who voted to approve this shit but they're the ones that have to suffer through me going through the entire community in 1st gear now.

[nismodrifter]

It's because of the many fucks that tear down Evergreen Street/Shawnee Drive at 100km/h. This has been in the works for a couple years now (been announced many times in the community newsletter, etc). We were on the waiting list for quite a while as they worked on other communities first...I guess our turn finally came and they got to work pretty quick. They've been cracking down on speeding for a long long time and people still continued to do it.

Is it an inconvenience..yeah...but I'm all for it. People in this neighborhood have been RIPPING down residential streets for way way too long.

It's especially bad on Friday/Saturday nights. I can't count the number of times I've seen cars speed down Evergreen Street at speeds of 80-90+ km/h. It's the usual teens in SUV's, JDM tite whips, Honda w/fart can+17'z wit da Lopro tirez, all carrying 5-10 people inside. Soccer moms and dads in their Escalades on 30" wheels also love to use those 2 streets as their personal race course. I have seen a bunch of people overtake slower cars on Shawnee Drive...these "slower" cars are doing 50km/h....like WTF is wrong with people????

Is it gay? Yes.
Was it time for this to happen? Yes.

[kevie88]

We need those on our street.. it's the Super JDM Skyrine Tuscany GP every day.. fuck.


On the other hand, big speedbumps make great jumps for streetbikes! Even @ 50kph you can get some good air.

[a social dsease]

The traffic calming installation in Shawnee/Evergreen got a 88% approval rating when it was voted on by the community association several years ago. I actually work for the design engineering firm on the project and I've been on site there just about everyday for the past month. Almost every single resident I spoke with was strongly in favour of the speed cushions, in fact most of them said we should install even more!
The bottom-line is, if people obeyed the law and didn't speed through residential zones then there would be no need to implement such measures. It's one thing to go 20km/hr over the limit out on the highway, but to do it on a residential street in the city is completely different, and unnecessary.
Theoretically you are supposed to be able to go over them at 50km/hr however its not very pleasant, especially in a lowered sportscar. The stupid thing is most of the people I've seen speeding in Evergreen are in SUV's (which can go over them faster), including one guy in a black H2 with chrome rims who ripped right by our open excavation at about 80km/hr

[nj2Type-S]

i'm glad the speed bumps are there cuz as mentioned, i've seen so many kids ripping down those streets. what i don't understand is why they had to put those medians. the street is narrow enough as it is when there's cars parked by the curb!

[cloud7]

Originally posted by a social dsease
TThe stupid thing is most of the people I've seen speeding in Evergreen are in SUV's (which can go over them faster), including one guy in a black H2 with chrome rims who ripped right by our open excavation at about 80km/hr

My thought exactly. The SUV and trucks with soft suspension can still go through it at speed.

[a social dsease]

The thing is, there is only so much you can do, short of having a cop stationed there 24/7. It will definitely encourage drivers to slow down however, and hopefully make the area alot safer for pedestrians, kids, cyclists etc.
Motorcycles can go right through the gaps, so you can still speed at will kevie

[Mibz]

The gaps are spaced perfectly for people in SUVs. I followed an H2 and a MB SUV who both just drove right through the gaps. Meanwhile I have to hit them at 10km/h or blow a strut through my hood.

I'll be honest, I feel like a bit of douche now, I was raging pretty hard when I typed that but I also don't live there so I didn't know people still sped down there. I remember when Evergreen St was first built there was a cop there twice a week busting people and I've yet to see one there in years. As for people passing on Shawnee Dr, that's just retarded. I guess I don't see any of this shit not living in the area anymore.

[5000Audi]

wait till dark shows up and the people that live there with the lowered cars come out... they are use to the road as is and will fly down it.. ZOMG a big bump, there goes a bent rim or bottom out hard...lol

[Grogador]

It's been said but yeah, people rip down that street at ludicrous speed on a daily/nightly/hourly basis. When they had that trailer with radar and the sign that says how fast you're going, it was even worse, haha...

Now they just need some of those tire spike things at the church parking lot, idiots peeling out there all the time.

[FiveFreshFish]

It sucks that a good percentage of those speeders are residents.

[shadowz]

Sobeys parking lot is the worst, my daily gets messed up everytime I go in there. The bumps are too high, make them longer if anything

[Maxt]

The problem with those kind of measures , is when you are not from that area, and some parked truck is blocking the speed bump sign, and you hit them at the posted limit. Its not only damaging to the vehicle, its dangerous.
I hit one at night at the posted limit 2 years ago in a dodge sprinter, it put the rear of the van and the cargo air born, and broke the in cargo area retaining hardware . Nothing like seeing acetylene/nitrogen/refrigerant bottles air born in the rear view followed by the steel racking.
I think if they are going to do the bumps, lower the speed limit to 20 then, leaving at 50 with the bumps is just idiotic. In a long wheel base its killer , the front is just landing while the rear is rising. Its like a bucking bronco effect.
I think more than anything its the design of the communities having no decent traffic collection roads and the engineering flaws of the major roadways that leads to these problems. Creating another traffic problem is not the answer, but somehow only in Calgary road engineering, 2 or 3 wrongs seem to make a right

[mazdavirgin]

My main beef with those gigantic speed bumps is they simply just promote more people to get huge SUVs since well it is teeth rattling in any type of car to go over the damn things even at 10km/h. Huge SUVs and Trucks can book it over them so how exactly is this solving any problems? Oh and usually the city engineers because they lost half their brains build speed bumps that are too high and narrow leading to cars bottoming out even when going over at less than 10km/h. Good luck taking a corvette over the damn things (They had to tow a vette off the bumps on capri in the NW...)

PS: Here is a nice little fact for all those promoting speed bumps they lengthen response time for ambulances. Ponder that one next time you call 911. Foothills learned that the hard way after they put in speed bumps all over and promptly had to remove them following complaints from EMTs. Seems that the big old ambulances with patients in the back don't do so well with half a foot lumps in the concrete.

[soupey]

so curious, lets say you drive a car thats low as is or has been lowered, and you hit these speed bumps at a speed that should be safe, and it takes out your front bumper/lip, or severely fucks up your suspension/underbody somehow....is the city responsible for it?

[PingPong700]

Originally posted by mazdavirgin

PS: Here is a nice little fact for all those promoting speed bumps they lengthen response time for ambulances. Ponder that one next time you call 911. Foothills learned that the hard way after they put in speed bumps all over and promptly had to remove them following complaints from EMTs. Seems that the big old ambulances with patients in the back don't do so well with half a foot lumps in the concrete. [/B]

Hmm, good point I've never thought of that!

[nismodrifter]

Originally posted by mazdavirgin
PS: Here is a nice little fact for all those promoting speed bumps they lengthen response time for ambulances. Ponder that one next time you call 911. Foothills learned that the hard way after they put in speed bumps all over and promptly had to remove them following complaints from EMTs. Seems that the big old ambulances with patients in the back don't do so well with half a foot lumps in the concrete.

Buses and other wide vehicles have been passing through the gaps in the speed bumps without any issues. I assume Ambulances would also go through just fine. Not sure if the speedbumps you are talking about had gaps in between them, but these do.

[Swank]

Originally posted by Maxt
I think more than anything its the design of the communities having no decent traffic collection roads and the engineering flaws of the major roadways that leads to these problems. Creating another traffic problem is not the answer, but somehow only in Calgary road engineering, 2 or 3 wrongs seem to make a right [/B]

I agree. I have to admit that when I first encountered these on Capri Ave NW I thought they were there to discourage people from using that road altoghther unless they live in that community. Unfortunately the alternative roads are congested and virtually inaccessible, or plagued with playground zones. I've tried to find a better route, there isn't one.

So fuck it, they want me to go from 50 to 10 for the speed bumps, then I'll go from 10 to 50 as fast as possible after each one. And if squeeling tires and 8500 RPM engine scream is unpleasant for the residents then just remove the speed bumps.

[soupey]

this would be nice:

A pair of engineers have come up with an innovative way to reduce carbon emissions and encourage drivers to slow down - all by simply reworking the humble speed bump and updating it for the 21st century. Jae-yun Kim and Jong-Su Lee have developed a new speed bump that can vary its height according to the speed that drivers are traveling. The system uses a special damper fitted inside the speedbump that allows the bump to flatten when drivers are travelling at less than 19mph (30km/h). If drivers are travelling greater than this speed, the bump will remain in place, slowing down the speeding driver and causing the car to bounce uncomfortably.

http://www.motorauthority.com/self-l...w-drivers.html

[kevie88]

^ but then a snowplow comes along in the winter and rips it out..