Brazil~The Land of GIGANTIC Speed Bumps

Brazil is indeed the land of plenty. (Plenty of Speed bumps, that is.) I'd temporarily forgotten about them since my last trip here, but was reminded soon enough. Now, in the U.S., speed bumps are there for you to slow down, usually in a parking lot, or by shopping centers. But in Brazil, speed bumps are on EVERY city street. And these are not your regular sized speed bumps.............oh no! These are GIGANTIC speed bumps! They are so big, I'm afraid a car that is low to the ground could get high-centered on them. AND, not only are they on every street, they are about every 2 blocks away from each other.

I understand that they are to get the crazy fast Brazilian drivers to slow down, but it only works for those few seconds while they are passing over the speed bump. As I understand it, the goal when driving is to go as fast as possible in-between the bumps, then slow down quickly to go over the bumps very slowly, then speed up as fast as possible again. (That's the way my family here drives anyway.)

I've included a few pictures for you to get an understanding of what I'm talking about. As you can see from the picture, these are not your ordinary speed bums. I'm afraid though, to really get a sense of what they are like, you need to be driving with a Brazilian to get a real feel of them. :)