On the road to ruin

BAD vibes . . . Sandra Scott (left) with neighbours Wallace and Tracy Jackson

Huge speed ramps give neighbours the hump

SPEED humps designed to slow down traffic have backfired — that’s according to fed-up residents on a busy street.

Neighbours in Ashton Road East, Failsworth, said vehicles are actually speeding up to drive over the large ramps — installed only a month ago as part of a series of traffic calming measures.

They claim vibrations are surging through their homes, causing structural damage and waking them as early as 4.30am.

Sandra Scott (55), a sports injury therapist and reflexologist, said: “Lorries and buses are speeding up to get over the bumps.

“We’ve all got cracks in our houses and movement in our windows caused by the vehicles.

“Up to these roadworks, we’ve never had vibrations, but now it’s like having earth tremors.

“I’m not opposed to traffic calming measures as long as they work.”

Ms Scott said she fears the vibrations are causing structural damage and could affect their home insurance.

She said: “We are not covered under our insurance for vibrations.

“These houses are going to be unsellable.

“I approached Failsworth councillor Paul Martin about it but he just said the humps met legislation.

“Installing traffic calming measures is good, but its the fact they haven’t done it properly.”

Oldham Council’s highways expert Tony Noblet said all road calming measures used by the council, including road humps, meet the specification outlined by the Department of Transport and the Transport Research Laboratory.

He added: “There is always an element of driver behaviour and those who insist on not slowing down to an appropriate speed when going over humps could be responsible for causing increased noise and vibrations.

“While this is not something we can control, traffic calming measures are an important element in any casualty reduction plan.

“Humps, in particular, are a cost effective form of road management.”