Can you park on speed bumps?

While driving, what is the best way to negotiate multi step speed bumps?

• I live in Delhi in India and we have really horrible speed breakers. These are in arranged four in a group within a gap of centimeters. I have seen cars drop speed and negotiate these bumps really slow. But this produces a lot of bounce in the drive. When I am at a high speed, i can go pass these bumps rather conveniently. But my wife insists that this is bad for the engine and the other drivers are doing it right. While negotiating a single speed bump, my experience says that slowing down is the best option. But i believe when negotiating multiple speed bumps, high speed should be better. So what do you think about this?

• Answer:

  You're talking about the Rumblers.. Yes, it is more convenient to drive them over at a high-er speed where all you feel is, well, "rumbles"; rather than coast over them uber slow where it feels utterly horrid. However, how you drive through them depends on how high each bump in the rumbler is. Not that I have actual height measurements, but rumblers in Mumbai suburbs are of a lesser height and more in quantity than ones in Delhi (they're rather new to Delhi) which tend to be 3-4 but a bit taller. Going over them fast does put a rather large amount of the strain on the suspension, it actually makes paltry little difference to the engine if you're in the power band anyway. I say if you're in a tall vehicle like an SUV, just coast over them at nominal speed. The suspension travel is long enough to take it. Might want to slow down if you're in a sedan or a hatchback. I myself drive over them at a steady clip rather than slowing down, even though I have a hatchback.