Judder-bar move

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33626, 30 August 1974, Page 4

Judder-bar move

British motor-cycling and road transport organisations are objecting strongly to a provision of a Road Traffic Bill now going through the British Parliament which would allow local bodies to put humps or judder bars on roads to slow traffic.

The “Sleeping policemen,” as they are known in Britain, would generally be four-inch high humps across roads, which experts say would slow traffic to 11 m.p.h. Higher speeds could result in vehicle damage. The organisations opposing the move say the humps would send motorcyclists flying off their machines, wreck vehicles and vehicle suspensions, and cause crashes by sending trucks and cars out of control.

Similar “sleeping police-

men” are used at a few sites in Christchurch, including the access roads at the Waimairi County Council’s Spencer Park reserve, and in the driveway at Christchurch Boys’ High School. They can and do damage low-slung cars, in particular, even when the vehicles are barely moving. The British proposals would permit local bodies to put the humps on any public road; they are already permitted on private roads.