Accident Black Spot tv prog - Thorney
 

Just been watching a programmed called "Accident Black Spot" on UkTvDocumentary presented by Penny Mallory.

In this episode, they looked at traffic calming in the village of Thorney in Cambridgeshire. All well & good, but they made the point that the two mini-roundabouts at either end of the village that were installed to reduce speed were going to be removed as they hadn't worked (ie, people were driving over them).

Perhaps I'm neglecting the obvious, but surely it would have been better to install mini-roundabouts with an element of height and/or obstruction such that traffic could not drive over them?!?!

If presented with a white painted circle, of course people are going to abuse them and drive over them, negating the need for a speed reduction. If said roundabout had a high kerb and/or elevated obstruction (including metal signs), surely 99% of drivers would drive around the roundabout rather than drive over it. This increased 'manouvere' would force a reduction in speed. Surely the desired effect?

Or is road engineering not that simple?

Unfortunately if they had put a raised roundabout/kerb, then the artics wouldn't be able to get round. They would then have to widen the carriageway and have a larger roundabout. The cars would then soon learn to straight line it through and not slow down.