I drive in and out of casino parking lots in Las Vegas and they have speed bumps. For those of you who don’t know, these are usually cement bumps, about 2-5 inches high, so people slow down when they drive over them.
The idea is that you don’t go 40 MPH over them and slow down when entering, or exiting a parking lot. Fair enough.
But what in the hell are people doing who drive in front of me and go a maximum of 1 MPH over the damn things?! Does grandma have a back brace? Is the suspension (on your so-called SUV) that bad?! I thought SUV’s were designed to go over logs, rocks and creek beds - if you drove any slower you would be going in reverse!
Trust me when I can say you can safely maneuver over them at the rip roaring speed of at least 15 MPH…if not 20 or more.
Sometimes, yeah, Grandma does have a back brace, or Uncle Ted is recovering from surgery. I had a hysterectomy (abdominal incision) almost 10 years ago, and going over speed bumps or railroad tracks was unbearably painful.
But yeah, I do think that people who drive SUVs or pickups could go a little faster over the speed bumps, in most cases. However, after a hard night or day of pulling slots, and sopping up the free booze, I’m more inclined to think that the drivers in casino lots are probably a little impaired. People who don’t pay money for their booze quite frequently overindulge.
A number of types of vehicles can scrape the lower moldings or parts of undercarriage if speed-bumps are driven over a bit too fast, ime. Kinda bounce the car downwards onto the bump it self. Once scraped, drivers always slowing down over every bump afterwards is not unusual.
There is also the possibility that the vehicles have a drink or two in cup-holders (coffee or whatever) and a bump would spill the fluid(s). Or possibly…the driver(s) have huge headaches from losses or cheap liquor and wanna take any bumps at minimum speed
I can understand a lowrider having a low undercarriage. However, SUVs? Pickups? I see this behavior around MY town, where we might have a drink of something, but we also mostly drive the SUVs/pickups. Personally, I think a shiny squeaky clean SUV is hilarious, it’s like “I want a badass vehicle, but I don’t want to actually USE it for anything rough and tough.”
From what I’ve heard after complaining about such behavior in my town, it’s possible to get a SUV without the good suspension/handling/4x4 package. This makes my “you just don’t want to be seen in a minivan” suspicion even stronger.
A lot of SUV’s and trucks in particular have heavier duty suspension for the utilities that they are designed for. A truck or SUV also will have a higher center of gravity and also needs stiffer suspension.
That generally transfers a shock into the cabin when going over bumps. All cars do this of course. SUV’s and trucks transfer more of this shock.
The speed bumps are there for a reason though. They do seem to slow down teens in their suped up Civics. The real transgressors of the slow speed bump stop are the aging boomers in their Porsche or BMW. Those are the folks that seem to crawl over them to protect their ground effect fiberglass.
Really? Ruining the suspension by using it for what it was designed for, absorbing impacts? Oh my God, next thing you know you’ll realize that you ruin your car a little bit more every time you drive it. Maybe then you’ll park it to make sure it doesn’t get damaged. I’m thinking that would be a good thing.
No wonder people drive like nancys, they don’t even understand how a car works.
I find that craaaaaaawwwwwwllllliiinnnnnggggg over a speed bump or train track jolts me around more than just driving over the damn thing at 15 miles an hour. And indeed, when the Mythbusters team tested this with a washboard road, you got a smoother ride closer to normal driving speeds.
Speaking as someone who spends more time in Vegas than I should (for work, I don’t have a gambling problem :D), I would just like to +1 this OP (times 10,000). Our office is right by the Strip, so if I have to get anything done (like, go to work), I have to be right in the middle of things. While I no doubt appreciate the tourists for bringing their monies and making Las Vegas the exciting place it is, I really wish they’d learn how to drive. Getting in and out of a parking garage in Las Vegas is pure hell. Shit, not just the speed bumps-- how about the folks that STOP THEIR CARS IN THE MIDDLE OF LAS VEGAS BLVD TO TAKE PICTURES. Um, guys? Yeah, that’s a road. I need to get to work.
I am a rage volcano by the time I get to work, let me tell you.
Gappers and tourons, sure. Deal with it all the time in a ski resort. At least you don’t have snow and people that try to drive 2 wheel drive cars in 10 inches of snow.
I remember to leave any ‘rage’ and understand that I have been lost and out of my element too.
I like your attitude at the end there- I need to adopt it, lest my blood pressure boil over.
That said, at least if there was snow, I would understand the slower rate. But no- it barely even fucking rains in Vegas! Actually, you should see the people trip out when there’s a flash flood along the highway. Yes, tourist-- just stop right there in the middle of that enormous puddle- that’s how you do it.
Yeah. I’ve lost count of the number of people I’ve pulled out of ditches and snow banks. It’s nothing more than a :sigh: from me.
Whats funny is that I was once asked if I was the Fire Department to come help them. “Nope, but you are in my way, I’ll strap you up, get you out and turned around”.
I’m amazed at the things people share here. If I I drove in and out of casino parking lots, I’d do my best to hide that fact, and i doubt I’d admit it was in Vegas.
Do you really think you can reveal this (in the Pit yet!) without anyone replying “Move to a nice quiet town in the Midwest! You won’t have speed bumps, you won’t be behind SUV*s, and… as a bonus, you won’t be in Las Vegas!”?
*(given our diet of brats ‘n’ beer, we need car doors that are low to the ground)
I think enipla is making the mistake he always makes when we start talking about SUVs - he thinks that his experience with SUVs is the same as the people we’re complaining about (i.e. he actually needs one and uses a proper one for a proper mountain vehicle). I can assure you that most of the SUVs here that are doing exactly what DMark is describing are not used in mountainous terrain for anything more strenuous than going for a latté in Banff. I get behind these crawling idiots in parking lots all the time, too - trust me, if my Corolla can take the speed bump at 15 kph with no problem, so can your Yukon Denial.
We have had speed bumps in our condo complex for years. They used to be of a height that you could go over them at a reasonable speed – 15 mph. But about a year ago they were raised. First time I went over one at my normal speed my head almost hit the ceiling. These new ones you really do have to traverse very slowly if you don’t want to break your neck.
