What is the speed limit? Part Three

This last section on speed limits concerns that national speed limit, there are actually two. The first national speed limit is 30 mph in a built up area, but it is the second one that I want to explain here.

The first thing to notice about the national limit sign, shown below, is that there is no number on the sign. Also you will see this sign on a variety of different roads, from fast dual carriageways to narrow country lanes. This national speed limit demands a different limit for different vehicles, even a car that tows a caravan will need to observe a lower limit. 
When I see this sign, I think it means use your "common sense". The theoretical limit for a car on the road below is 60 mph, but that would be crazy on this narrow lane - 25 mph maybe too fast. As always you need to drive to the conditions that are apparent. Most of my pupils are very surprised when they enter a road like this one and see this sign. They assume that since they are encouraged to drive reasonably close to other speed limits that I would expect the same here. So I explain that if the county and borough councils had to specify exact speed limits for every road, the cost would be prohibitive. This is because most of the roads in the UK are national, but most of the roads that we regularly drive on are signed up with specific limits. The cost of mounting signs on all of these type of roads would be enormous. Each would need a lamp, therefore an electricity supply, someone would need to maintain them, replace bulbs, clean them etc.

When you join a national speed limit dual carriageway, you should try to get up to about 60 mph (as long as the traffic will allow this. This is so that heavy goods vehicles (which are speed limited) will not catch up and overtake you. If you are driving 50 mph on a clear road, the truck driver will be "forced" to overtake you. The truck will take a while to do this since it is limited to 56 mph (probably), and both lanes of a fast dual carriageway will be blocked (not a good idea).

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What is the speed limit? Part Two

There are some roads that I find the speed limits difficult to understand, here are a couple of examples.

This is Cricket Lane in Lichfield; there are houses on the left, close to the road and yet the speed limit is 40 mph (at least there are a few repeaters to remind you).

The above picture is Cappers Lane, also in Lichfield and the limit is 30 mph. it really doesn't look like it and two things are true. Most of the traffic on this road will be exceeding that limit and people fail their driving tests every day on this stretch of road. So use the tips from Part One to help work out the limit; a driving test examiner will be quite forgiving if you drive a little below the limit for a short period (while you work it out).

Finally look at the 2 signs below, both show that speed cameras may be around (fixed or mobile). I can't see the point of the one on the right, the one on the left shows the camera sign AND the speed limit - much more informative.

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What is the speed limit? Part One

Well I can't believe that it is almost four years since I wrote one of these Learn To Drive Tips. Anyway I hope some of you will enjoy reading and may even learn a little bit.

Question: How do the speed change signs work in the UK? What do I even mean by this? Let's clarify, the images below are all taken from the same road in Lichfield. PS I love Google Street View :-)

In the picture above there are two 40 mph signs; notice that they are fairly large and there's one each on posts on right and left side of the road - opposite each other. This is typically how a change is notified to the driver. So the speed limit will be 40 mph until the next change sign on this road or when you turn off into a different one.

In contrast, the above image shows a 40 mph repeater; this is not a change but a helpful reminder of the current speed limit. Notice that the sign is fairly small and although there is one on the LHS, there isn't one on the right.

Personally I would like to see a few more of these, but there seems to be little consistency with repeaters; some roads have a repeater every 100 yards and sometimes you can drive for miles and not see one. They seem to happen more often when a limit has been changed. So a road that was previously signed as national speed limit and has been changed to 50 or 40 mph, you are much more likely to see repeaters.

The last shot shows a view into a side road and you can clearly see two change signs. So here the speed limit is changing (from 40 mph) to 30 mph. Incidentally if you were to look at the reverse of these signs, you would see two 40 mph signs - showing the change in the other direction.

So how can this help a new driver.

First of all, look out for change signs and repeaters. Nobody will see every sign but if you try, you will see more. Notice that most appear at junctions, either before a junction or just after. Don't forget that they are also painted on the road sometimes, see below.

If you find yourself on a road and you are not sure what the speed limit is, then look for evidence. The best way is to look down a side road and see if there are any change signs. If there are no change signs then the limit should be the same on both roads. However if there are change signs then you certainly know that the limit on the road you are on is different and this will always help to work it out.

Other clues would be:

Are there lampposts? If there are none, then this indicates national speed limit - although some of these roads have a few lampposts to illuminate junctions.

Is it a built up area? Houses close to the road indicate 30 mph, although some could be 20 mph (as above). Footpaths on both sides of the road would also indicate a built up area.

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