Road work restriction speed limit question.

Road work restriction speed limit question.

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Discussion

Buster73

Original Poster:

5,067 posts

154 months

Monday 1st March 2021
quotequote all
Local motorway close to home has a 50 mph signs up for roadworks for a distance of about two miles.

Except for about the last three weeks there have been no cones out or in fact I’ve never seen any trucks or people working , almost to the point I’m beginning to think they’ve forgotten about the speed signage.

Genuine question, do these signs with the reduction in speed limit still have any legal standing ?

Or do they only apply during the period of actual roadworks.




For the record I’ve not been caught speeding.

akirk

5,395 posts

115 months

Monday 1st March 2021
quotequote all
depends on the signs...

quite recently the M4 had two sets of concurrent roadworks...
- white background with a red circle border at 50mph - legal speed limit of 50mph
- yellow background with a rectangular black border at 50mph - advisory speed limit of 50mph, legal limit remains at 70mph

signage determines the speed limit - not presence of cones or workers

No ideas for a name

2,208 posts

87 months

Monday 1st March 2021
quotequote all
akirk said:
depends on the signs...

quite recently the M4 had two sets of concurrent roadworks...
- white background with a red circle border at 50mph - legal speed limit of 50mph
- yellow background with a rectangular black border at 50mph - advisory speed limit of 50mph, legal limit remains at 70mph

signage determines the speed limit - not presence of cones or workers
Isn't the TRO the defining instrument?
i.e. if the TRO specified a restriction for a certain date range, then any signs left up after that date wouldn't be enforcable.

andburg

7,296 posts

170 months

Tuesday 2nd March 2021
quotequote all
No ideas for a name said:
Isn't the TRO the defining instrument?
i.e. if the TRO specified a restriction for a certain date range, then any signs left up after that date wouldn't be enforcable.
I believe this is the correct answer but drivers are unlikely to know the details

I'd be pretty sure local plod wont know whether the TRO is expired or not so even if not enforceable you could end up with a tug. For the sake of 24 seconds I'd just stick to 50 (+10% + 2 maybe)

sospan

2,486 posts

223 months

Tuesday 2nd March 2021
quotequote all
There used to be a way of reporting roadwork restrictions that should have been removed. It was to stop the puzzling speed restrictions when nothing was going on and the restriction was no longer needed.
Does it still exist?