The roads of Great Wyrley in Staffordshire have about 140 road humps that are being reviewed. Many of the ‘features’ were installed outside the defined dimensions and some are so far outside reasonable tolerances they require ‘RAMP’ warning signs.  Great Wyrley also has 7 Gatso Cash Scameras and a Speed Camera Van that visits on a regular basis.

Recently, following widespread negative publicity, 10 full width humps were removed, perhaps due to the humps being placed in areas that had none or very few accidents prior to installation.  Another 10 full width humps have been amended to speed cushions.  Staffordshire Highways and Staffordshire Police have asserted that the changes are not detrimental to road safety. There will also be an ongoing review of the rest of the scheme.

A recent letter from the Area Highways Manager, Staffordshire Highways stated that: 'following a series of publicity campaigns that resulted with Staffordshire Highways recognising that on reflection the number of features used in the original scheme may have been excessive. Indeed, traffic calming is an art and not an exact science and there are often multiple solutions available in pursuit of the same end result, to reduce accident severity and numbers.... The media have also responded positively in representation of local opinion'.

A road hump in Tower View Road, Great Wyrley is top of the list of 'Worst Road Humps in Britain' drawn up by Continental Tyres. A pair of humps, shown below, in Tower View Road, Great Wyrley has been constructed in a slight dip.  They are the third attempt at this location.  The top left inset shows one of the humps after a few months, it has been so badly damaged that a complete new top was inserted. This degraded again as shown and finally both humps were completely reconstructed from road level.  The top right inset shows flooding which occurs several times a year, when the humps are just visible or usually disappear beneath the water.  The main picture also shows patches of oil just beyond the humps, where another car sump has been damaged.

Staffordshire County Council's Household Survey, Dec 2002, stated that 58% of car owners reported hump damage to the underside of their vehicles to exhausts, suspension components, steering, brakes, etc.

The interim, independent Great Wyrley Parish Plan, August 2009 contained questions concerning the road humps. From 178 specific responses received, 115 (65%) stated that all should be removed and 45 (25%) stated that the number should be reduced. Therefore 90% of the residents who responded want the road humps removed or at least vastly reduced. This is a rise of 5% from the 85% given in the £7,000 Householders Survey that certain people in their ivory tower claimed not to understand. It could be considered that having had considerable input into the Household Survey, they couldn't understand why residents could give the 'wrong' answers to biased questions.

Will Staffordshire's white elephant, Development Services, still continue to work for themselves and their fat cat, protected pensions rather than for the good of the people of Staffordshire? Unless they remove some more humps in Great Wyrley then the question is answered for them. 

Following the publication of the Department for Transport’s Road Casualties Great Britain, 2006 it is clear that only 5% of accidents have excessive speed as a primary contributory factor.  The majority of road accidents are a mix of other causes, such as ‘failed to look properly’, ‘road/environment’, ‘following too close’, etc., rather than down to the simplistic catchall of excessive speed, which doesn't even get near the Top 10 causes of accidents.

In 95% of accidents causing death or injury, exceeding the speed limit is not even a contributory factor, In addition some of the remaining 5% will involve unlicensed drivers and/or stolen vehicles. (Association of British Drivers)