We have looked at the perils of parking, but now it’s time for a rant on ramps and rumble strips. We find out why they can be even more perilous than a trip to the car park!
Even President Obama has had a close encounter with a ramp in Ireland. During his visit to Ireland in May 2011, a big Cadillac in his entourage got stuck on a small ramp leaving the American Embassy in Dublin. That horrible bang that has been played thousands of times on YouTube is surely a familiar sound to anyone who has taken on a ramp head on and lost!
Joking aside ramps and rumble strips are there for a reason. While we acknowledge that ramps and rumble strips play an important part in slowing us down, keeping us alert and out of danger, they can be very unforgiving on both cars and passengers alike!
Now rumble strips by their nature are a gentler beast opposed to the short, sharp shock of the ramp. Their onslaught on our cars is small, steady and constant. Rumble strips are like braille for our cars. The familiar di-dum-di-dum-di-dum with synchronised vibration makes the whole dashboard shake (depending on how well screwed together your car is!). It is an alert to tell us to slow the car down.
However, with ramps the enemy comes in different forms; knowing the shape and form of that enemy is the best way to deal with it.
There are the small but deadly ones. These look innocent enough on the approach but my goodness hit them too fast and they are very unforgiving.
Then there are the ones that are low in height with a gentle gradient. These tend to be okay as long as you hit them nice and slowly otherwise you risk getting airborne on the other side.
The next kind is quite unusual. They sit like individual square speed bumps spaced out from the kerb as opposed to one single ramp. Do you go straight over or do you do a quick shimmy so that only one tyre hits the ramp?
Then there are those evil ramps whose visibility markings have partially or completely worn off. These are the ones that appear from nowhere. If you are not concentrating you risk doing lots of damage to your car if you don’t slow down. Hit them too hard and the radio pops out of the dash and the whole car shudders to a stop. This is worst case scenario stuff!
And last but not least, there is the “Mont Blanc” of ramps. Everybody knows a “Mont Blanc”. You might have to pass over it every day and you cringe for the car and yourself. It might be on your street, in your estate or in your work car park. Every day you go through the same process: slow down almost to a stop and ease the car over gently and it still feels like you are going to leave half the undercarriage of the car on the ramp. If your car happens to be low slung or have a body kit, well it’s a case of good luck or maybe find an alternative route!
All that is left to do is give the dash a quick pat and say “sorry car”.
Have you had a bad experience with a ramp? Do you believe that some ramps are just badly designed and are unforgiving at any speed?
6th September, 2012
