Do you know what a ‘ball bank’ is?
In the April edition I mentioned 2 road signs, that advised 35 km/h for a sharp, bend when 20 km/h is a more appropriate speed. The Dept. of Transport said, it is the local council’s responsibility. The council threw the ball back into the governments court. Nothing has been done to rectify the signs since.
(Two correct signs were installed a few months later, after publishing this article).
Speaking at length again on the issue of advisory speed signs, I learned from the government traffic engineer, that a scientific instrument called a "Ball Bank" is used to measure the centrifugal force when negotiating a bend. Several times a car is driven around the corner and when the most comfortable speed has been established, a reading is taken from the instrument and applied for that bend.
One big surprise was, however, that bends with good visibility are treated in the same way as blind bends. I explained, that instructors teach learners to take blind bends slower, because an obstacle may be blocking the way around the corner. The traffic engineer pointed out, that it is the responsibility of drivers to take other factors into consideration, such as visibility, road conditions etc. Advisory speeds are just that, guidelines.
I thought that visibility would be one of the main safety factors, not just the comfort of passengers? In the next edition I hopefully can report that the signs are either removed or replaced with the correct 25 km/h ones.