Man installed his own speed hump

NEIGHBOURS have rallied round a Gironde man who installed a sleeping policeman on the road outside his house after his son’s cat was run over and killed.

Noël Schang decided to fit the speed hump - called a ralentisseur or, colloquially, a dos d'âne - after a collision between cars on the same spot just weeks earlier.

He had failed to get local authorities to act and looked up the regulations on speed humps, bought one of the correct size (5cm) and material (rubber) and fitted it on the road. He even put up warning signs to alert motorists who were driving too fast on the road, which already had a 30kph speed limit.

However, gendarmes told him he had no right to do so and ordered that he remove everything from the road at Arveyres. He did so – even down to filling in the holes left by the bolts.

He has now repeated his requests to the mayor at Arveyres and the sub-prefect at Libourne to get something done and this time he has the support of neighbours with around two dozen signing a petition calling for action.