Speed hump drivers can avoid dubbed 'pointless'

Media caption,

The speed hump in Wigman Road, Nottingham, covers one lane of the road, which means drivers can steer around it

  • Published

A speed hump that only covers half a road has been called "pointless" by residents, who say drivers are simply steering around the traffic calming measure.

The hump covers only the outside lane of Wigman Road in Nottingham, which has on-street parking bays along the left-hand lane.

It was installed as part of a series of planned improvements to walking and cycling routes, which Nottingham City Council leader Neghat Khan said were "all about making it safer and easier for people to get around".

But residents say most motorists who drive down Wigman Road steer around the hump to avoid it if there are no parked cars - and believe it has created an "accident waiting to happen".

A man in a wheelchair wearing a tracksuit. He also has a blue baseball cap on. Behind him is a speed bump and road.
Image caption,

Nigel Fleming lives opposite the speed hump

Wheelchair user Nigel Fleming, whose home is near the speed hump, said so many people swerved around it that his carers did not want to park in the bays in case their vehicles were hit.

"Most of the cars are trying to avoid it, so it's pointless," he said.

"It's a mystery, I've not seen anything like it anywhere else in Nottingham.

"Half a speed bump is just bizarre."

A speed bump shown on one side of the road, with a space for parked cars on the other side.
Image caption,

There appears to be parking on one side of Wigman Road

Betsey Degraft-Johnson, who has lived on Wigman Road for 17 years, said the traffic calming measure had not helped cut problems with speeding on the road.

"Late at night some cars go really fast along here," she said.

"Not a lot of cars park where that speed bump is so you can navigate around it. If there is a car parked there, you do have to go over it.

"Just one speed bump is very odd because people don't expect it.

"I've seen cars fly down the road and slam on their brakes to swerve around it."

A woman with blonde hair. She's wearing a dark blue coat and has a bag across her shoulder. She's standing in front of a speed bump.
Image caption,

Cindy Cooke said the speed bump was "quite funny"

Cindy Cooke, whose father lives on the road, said: "I drive around it, I can't see the point in it.

"Some people come down here at 50 or 60 miles an hour, so it's an accident waiting to happen.

"People have said it's a waste of space, why is it even there? It's quite funny really."

Nottingham City Council received funding from the government's Transforming Cities Fund to carry out the work.

It said the speed hump was initially installed across half of the road due to the parking spaces along one lane of the road.

It said it was "keeping the situation under review" and if the parking bays were not being used and drivers were avoiding the speed hump, officers would "investigate the potential to extend it [to] full width of the road".

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