Sir – On Twitter, I found the finest piece of county council PR spin and obfuscation I have yet seen. The headline? Council helps make bus journeys more comfortable.
Sadly, though, the reality didn’t quite match up with the PR angle. It turned out that the council is removing a few tank-trap speed humps in Banbury and replacing them with . . . wait for it . . . more tank-trap speed humps, except the new ones are ‘speed cushions’.
Perhaps the simple act of calling them ‘cushions’ makes them marginally less spine-jarring. Apparently, “the existing humps have . . . caused some discomfort for bus drivers and passengers”.
What do you think they’ve been doing to car drivers, let alone motorcyclists whose front wheels are dangerously destabilised by these things? The discomfort of the humps is, apparently, designed to get people out of their cars and on to the bus.
Are drivers really going to, thanks to these bumps, fling their car keys gleefully into the nearest recycling (metal only) bin and take the bus?
Might cheaper fares and more reliable services have been a better bet?
Apart from the safety implications for cyclists and motorcyclists of humps, apart from the over-engineered, hideous urbanisation and oversignage they inflict on an area, apart from the massive increase in pollution and discomfort they’ll generate, just how is this sensible use of £30,000?
The thinking behind the scheme and its publicity is so convoluted you could call it Hampton Court Maze and charge people admission.
Mark McArthur-Christie, Bampton
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