Acne

RyanThomas asked:


The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) said bumpers on all but three of 17 new midsize sedans it tested did not protect the cars from expensive damage in the kinds of low-speed mishaps that happen in heavy traffic and in parking lots and result in more than $6 billion a year in insurance claims.

Among the worst performers were the Nissan Maxima and Volkswagen Jetta. Both cars sustained over $9,000 each in estimated damage from four simulated bumps - two each at three mph and six mph. The Nissan Maxima, VW Passat and the Pontiac G6 each sustained the most amount of damage. Over $4,500 worth of damage were sustained in just one of the tests - the six mph full-width frontal impact. The IIHS said hoods, fenders, headlights and air-conditioning condensers needed repairs.

Adrian Lund, the IIHS president, said that in only two of the 68 bump tests of the 17 cars did the bumpers fully protect other components from significant damage: one of a Saturn Aura and another of a Hyundai Sonata. “The whole purpose of bumpers is to keep damage away from headlights, hoods and other parts that are expensive to repair,” Lund said. “In the rest, what we found is that bumpers aren’t up to the job.” Federal regulations require bumpers to protect only up to 2.5 mph.

If there are worst performers, there should also be the ideal ones. The IIHS said that the three midsize cars that did “comparatively well” in the tests does include the nation’s bestseller - the Toyota Camry. Other top performers include the Mazda 6 and the Mitsubishi Galant. The cars sustained less than $1,500 damage in each of the four bumps.

In a statement, Nissan Motors said, “We believe Nissan vehicles perform competitively in terms of cost of repair. The cost to repair bumpers is just one consideration.” The automaker claims that Nissan body kits perform efficiently and reliably. General Motors Corp., on the other hand, said it was assessing the institute’s test results. Volkswagen said it would take the tests into account in future designs.

The institute said the most costly damage occurs when the bumpers of colliding vehicles do not line up and ride under or over each other. In some cases, the relatively minor bumps required professional chassis straightening. Nonetheless, the institute added that the relatively high costs of replacement parts for some models - not just the amount of damage from the tests - accounted for some of the variation in repair costs.

The IIHS started testing bumpers in 1969 but recently modified the test to assess over- or underride. In doing the tests, cars are bumped into a steel and plastic barrier that mimics a car bumper. The lesser the damage a car gets, the better the bumper performance is.



BENITO

Jessica Pear asked:


If you have ever walked through a busy parking lot while trying to make your way to the building entrance when someone came whipping by you in a car, you know just how deadly a parking lot can be. Sometimes, in their rush to get the best spot, motorists forget that a parking lot is full of pedestrians as well as cars. Many parking lot owners are taking the safety and security of their patrons into their own hands and installing safety features, such as speed limit signs and speed bumps to encourage motorists to drive responsibly through their lots.

Speed bumps are a great way to control the speed of vehicles driving through a parking lot while keeping them moving. Some lots have opted to use stop signs but find that this creates more congestion as cars are repeatedly forced to stop and go or some motorists ignore the sign all together and just keep driving. Constructed of molded plastic, rubber or even concrete, a speed bump forces motorists to slow down and be aware of their surrounding which is ideal for safeguarding pedestrians. Many models of speed bump can also be easily removed when you have a need to plow your lot during the winter months.

Historically, the first known use of speed bumps was in Chatham, New Jersey, in 1906. The town of Chatham raised the level of all the cross walks in town, effectively turning them all into speed bumps. Although the average speed of vehicles at that time was only 30 miles an hour, even then cars posed a serious danger to pedestrians. With the crosswalks raised, traffic had to slow before crossing them, furnishing pedestrians with a greater opportunity to cross the street unscathed. Since that point, this traffic tool has grown in use and can be found in parking lots and even on some roads where a guarantee of low speed is needed.

There are those that will argue that speed bumps are too steep or have too sharp of an angle for a low profile vehicle to cross over at a high speed and therefore a nuisance and danger to vehicles traveling over them. Of course, the whole point of a speed bump is to discourage high speed, so even that argument seems to support the effectiveness of this traffic controlling device. Champion America has a great selection of well made, effective speed bumps available, as well as signs to warn motorists that these tools are being used in your facility. Visit www.champion-america.com today.



MARTY

Camille Howe asked:


Maintaining a safe and steady traffic flow through any environment will boost safety and reduce the risk of speed related accidents from happening. Slowing traffic down makes an area safer for drivers and any people on foot in the area, and is relatively easy to achieve with simple traffic calming measures such as plastic speed bumps.

By installing plastic speed bumps in an area where you need to control the flow of traffic, you can reduce the average speed of vehicles effectively straight away. Drivers will no longer be able to drive fast through an area with speed humps in the thoroughfare, as doing so could potentially cause damage to their vehicle as well as being very uncomfortable.

Plastic speed bumps are very easy to install, and because the job only requires basic tools and skills it can be carried out very quickly, and with a minimum of disruption to normal business. The first stage is to prepare the area fully by clearing it of any major potholes and existing lumps. This will ensure that the new traffic calming bumps sit flat on the ground and are not subject to being damaged when cars go over them.

Once you are satisfied with the area where you are installing the bumps, the next step is to either use spikes to fasten the bump onto an asphalt road, or use special bolts for a concrete surface. This will ensure that the bumps are secure and do not move when vehicles pass over them.

Thanks to the relatively light weight of the plastic speed bumps at around 40 pounds, they are extremely easy for a single person to fit, and at 72 inches long, they can easily be joined together to fit almost any size of roadway, and even be cut to size for an exact fit as required.

One of the biggest benefits of plastic speed bumps comes from the nature of the material used to produce them. Being constructed completely out of recycled plastic, these high quality speed bumps are automatically weather proof, hard wearing, and require no special treatment or painting as the color is built into them. The speed bumps can also be removed quickly if necessary and then placed elsewhere if required.

Unlike alternatives such as wood or tarmac, a plastic speed bump needs no maintenance, will not rot, and is resistant to damage.

Additionally, in the event that a hump is damaged or becomes dangerously worn by the volume of traffic passing over it, it is possible to replace it very easily and quickly to ensure that no long term inconvenience is caused.

With the latest plastic speed bumps, you can also benefit from using them as a protective device and run cable through them. The range of speed humps available have a pair of ready cut 1 inch cable channels running through them. This makes the bumps ideal for use in a situation where you need to run a cable across a roadway that cars use. The bump will protect the cables from compression damage and chafing from vehicles, and ensure that any vital services are well protected, as well as controlling the flow of traffic effectively.



MORTON