Harbour Way

Had a reason to go down the town today and thought i would make use of the opened today by pass they have spent over a year and millions building, it is of no use to me whatsoever.


the drive was interminable, as far as i can make out it is just an access road for tata steel masquerading as a by pass to get to Swansea, we already have the M4. I am plum in the middle of the slip roads to get on, in fact I am probably as close to a motorway junction, so can see no occasion to use it, and to make matters worse, now they are thinking of putting speed ramps on the main road, as we will not be getting any heavy traffic and people will speed.

 

Speed bumps should be outlawed. I'd love to see some unbiased statistics to show how effective they are at improving road safety. Here's some of the reasons why I hate them:
* If you're already going slow, all they serve to do jolt your car, reducing the lifespan of the suspension components, causing early failure, which leads to reduced stability, and therefore reduced safety.
* If you're going too fast when you hit them, you're brakes are not going to be very effective if you have to slam on while practically airborne, so longer stopping distance and less control, therefore reduced safety. Add to that the sudden force on the suspension components possibly braking them, reduced stability, reduced safety.
* My missus was until a couple of weeks ago, pregnant. Apparently it happens all the time. Pregnant woman in car, violent jolt, reduced safety. Wife goes into labour, I have to make a decision between the shortest route, over speed bumps, or the slightly longer route bypassing the speed bumps. I choose the latter but use all the horses at my disposal to make up the time. Reduced safety.

All that plus I once actually belted the bottom of my car on a poorly installed one. The car, not exactly a lowered race tuned ferrari, more a run of the mill diesel Vectra, simply didn't have the necessary ground clearance, so with an almighty metallic crunch, I grounded the car. Who knows what damage it did. I visually checked it afterwards and it still drove alright so I continued using it for months, until the MOT, when it failed on many things, all related to suspension and steering.

 

I cannot hear the main road traffic, unless it`s an ambulance , it`s far enough away from me, If the wind is in the right direction and humidity high I can hear the motorway hum, I am hearing a lot of noise from the new road however and have been for some time as it has been being used by tata only for some months.