Van speed limit

[MC Bodge]

I wonder why this law has never been refined to make it more sensible?

Surely a SWB Transit sized van should be permitted to do the same speeds as a large car/4x4?

[HTP99]

MYOB said:

What I do not understand is why such vehicles are limited to 50 or 60 on single or dual carriageways, but permitted to do 70 on motorways.

Bizarre.

Yep and if they are/or have been converted to campers and have had the necessary re-classification then they aren't restricted to the usual van limits.

[meatballs]

MYOB said:

What I do not understand is why such vehicles are limited to 50 or 60 on single or dual carriageways, but permitted to do 70 on motorways.

Bizarre.

It doesn't matter WVM doesn't stick to van limits unless he's fitted with a limiter.

[MC Bodge]

HTP99 said:

MYOB said:

What I do not understand is why such vehicles are limited to 50 or 60 on single or dual carriageways, but permitted to do 70 on motorways.

Bizarre.

Yep and if they are/or have been converted to campers and have had the necessary re-classification then they aren't restricted to the usual van limits.

Very odd.

[SS2.]

Cat said:

The vehicle category, M1, N1 etc. doesn't determine the applicable speed limit.

Payload capacity has no bearing on whether or not a vehicle meets the definition of a DPV. A second row of seats is not necessary if the vehicle is all wheel drive. The unladen weight of a DPV can not exceed 2040kg.

Get the feeling we've been here before, Cat ?

[Cat]

SS2. said:

Cat said:

The vehicle category, M1, N1 etc. doesn't determine the applicable speed limit.

Payload capacity has no bearing on whether or not a vehicle meets the definition of a DPV. A second row of seats is not necessary if the vehicle is all wheel drive. The unladen weight of a DPV can not exceed 2040kg.

Get the feeling we've been here before, Cat ?

Just once or twice

It never ceases to amaze the amount of nonsense that gets spouted about CDV and DPV classification.

Cat

[LunarOne]

MC Bodge said:

I wonder why this law has never been refined to make it more sensible?

Surely a SWB Transit sized van should be permitted to do the same speeds as a large car/4x4?

Max laden weight (GVM):
Toyota Landcruiser: 2990 kg
Range Rover: 3250 kg
Mercedes V-class: 3100kg
Mercedes sprinter L1H1 (smallest config) : 5000kg
Ford Transit SWB: 2900kg - 4700kg
Renault Trafic: 2835kg - 2980kg

So yes, some vans can be much heavier, while some can weigh less fully loaded than a car. However any transit-sized van will have much more load volume than a car so it's much more likely to be loaded at its maximum capacity, whereas it's quite unlikely for a car to be run at maximum capacity.

[Lindun]

MYOB said:

What I do not understand is why such vehicles are limited to 50 or 60 on single or dual carriageways, but permitted to do 70 on motorways.

Bizarre.

All three are very different roads, the one with the highest speed limit has the most nicely spread out junctions, the others can have tricky ones and more need to slow quickly. That’s probably part of the reason. I’m not going to try to explain the campervan piece though. Personally, I think modern vans are more than capable of coping with car limits, but fully loaded, especially if badly packed could be a bit of a nightmare.

[blank]

SS2. said:

Cat said:

The vehicle category, M1, N1 etc. doesn't determine the applicable speed limit.

Get the feeling we've been here before, Cat ?

Sorry, but that is not quite true.

An M1 vehicle will never have the lower limits as it is, by definition, not a "goods vehicle".

So it is a good first check to use. Unless anyone has ever failed on this in court?

If a vehicle is N1 then you end up in the murky world of car derived vans and dual purpose vehicles.

[MC Bodge]

LunarOne said:

MC Bodge said:

I wonder why this law has never been refined to make it more sensible?

Surely a SWB Transit sized van should be permitted to do the same speeds as a large car/4x4?

Max laden weight (GVM):
Toyota Landcruiser: 2990 kg
Range Rover: 3250 kg
Mercedes V-class: 3100kg
Mercedes sprinter L1H1 (smallest config) : 5000kg
Ford Transit SWB: 2900kg - 4700kg
Renault Trafic: 2835kg - 2980kg

So yes, some vans can be much heavier, while some can weigh less fully loaded than a car. However any transit-sized van will have much more load volume than a car so it's much more likely to be loaded at its maximum capacity, whereas it's quite unlikely for a car to be run at maximum capacity.

OK. The Kangoo/Berlingo sized vans are nowhere near that, though.

[Cat]

blank said:

Sorry, but that is not quite true.

An M1 vehicle will never have the lower limits as it is, by definition, not a "goods vehicle".

So it is a good first check to use. Unless anyone has ever failed on this in court?

If a vehicle is N1 then you end up in the murky world of car derived vans and dual purpose vehicles.

The OP asked about van speed limits i.e. goods vehicle speed limits, so M1 is should never come into.

Whether or not a vehicle is a "goods vehicle" is not ultimately determined by the vehicle category on the V5.

If for some reason a van was incorrectly recorded as M1 on the V5 it wouldn't alter the applicable speed limit because the limit is based on whether or not the physical characteristics of the vehicle satisfy the various definitions in the legislation.

Cat

[martinbiz]

MYOB said:

What I do not understand is why such vehicles are limited to 50 or 60 on single or dual carriageways, but permitted to do 70 on motorways.

Bizarre.

Because they are not having to stop every few miles for a roundabout. Back to the days when your average 3 speed commer took about 200 yards to stop from 50 mph and could only do it once every 10 mins without brake fade. Archaic law today but it is what it is

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

martinbiz said:

MYOB said:

What I do not understand is why such vehicles are limited to 50 or 60 on single or dual carriageways, but permitted to do 70 on motorways.

Bizarre.

Because they are not having to stop every few miles for a roundabout. Back to the days when your average 3 speed commer took about 200 yards to stop from 50 mph and could only do it once every 10 mins without brake fade. Archaic law today but it is what it is

It is a conundrum though when driving on the A1....70/60/70/60 as you change from A1(m) to A1 and back again.

...mind you, I seem to be the only person observing this

[GSalt]

MC Bodge said:

I wonder why this law has never been refined to make it more sensible?

Surely a SWB Transit sized van should be permitted to do the same speeds as a large car/4x4?

It gets odder, put a motorhome on the same chassis (sprinter, transit, ducato, etc) and providing the [u]unladen[/u] gross weight is no more than 3050kg then the limits are the same as for a car.

https://www.gov.uk/speed-limits

[martinbiz]

Why would they change a money spinner though, l wouldn’t be surprised that a bit of research would probably show the majority of speeding fines on nsl DC’s are for exceeding the goods vehicle limit

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

martinbiz said:

Why would they change a money spinner though, l wouldn’t be surprised that a bit of research would probably show the majority of speeding fines on nsl DC’s are for exceeding the goods vehicle limit

I'll guess they are not. We had a guy work for us who'd driven a Transit for probably 30 years. He recently got his first ticket & was amazed to learn about the speed limits for his vehicle.

[mattyprice4004]

Digby said:

I feel rather sorry for such van drivers. There you are, in something that would struggle to knock over a flower pot if it ended up crashing into a garden, stuck at the same speed as a 44 ton HGV. They sadly fall into the "Hmm, err, what about things a little bigger than a car?" catagory.

This is categorically wrong for something like a Sprinter when fully loaded - very easy to do a lot of damage!

[anonymous-user]

Drove a friends Land Rover Defender some considerable distance last year, it's a 110 and around 10 years old. The handling was atrocious, the steering vague and the brakes were appalling.

We have some VW Transporter Combi vans at work and they are a much nicer drive. Brakes and handles better than a lot of cars even when loaded up, and several leagues above the Defender. Both the Defender and the Transporter weigh around 3 tonnes fully loaded yet the Defender can do 60/70 whereas the Transporter is restricted to 10mph less? Go figure?

[Camelot1971]

DaveH23 said:

I'll be driving a Mercedes Sprinter later today and googling is throwing different answers.

Can anyone confirm if I need to adhere to 50, 60, 70 on Single, dual and Motorways.

Thanks in advance.

My observations of watching van drivers are that the speed limit seems to be 70, 80, 90. They all seem to have magnets on their front bumper too, which attracts them to the car in front of them.

[martinbiz]

Andy20vt said:

Drove a friends Land Rover Defender some considerable distance last year, it's a 110 and around 10 years old. The handling was atrocious, the steering vague and the obrakes were appalling.

We have some VW Transporter Combi vans at work and they are a much nicer drive. Brakes and handles better than a lot of cars even when loaded up, and several leagues above the Defender. Both the Defender and the Transporter weigh around 3 tonnes fully loaded yet the Defender can do 60/70 whereas the Transporter is restricted to 10mph less? Go figure?

There is no speed limiter required on a combi or any van up to 3.5t they are only restricted because your company ordered them like that. A speed limiter is an option on most light goods vehicles