M42 sneaky 50 in a sea of 60s have you seen one?

[saaby93]

About a year ago Nigelworcs posted that on the M42 hed seen a solitary 50 in a string of 60s. A few of us confirmed we'd seen this too, usually near the M40 junction.
Have you seen it too? If so what did you do?
Pick multiple options.
Vote the same if you've seen it on other variable speed motorways

SPL is now running the legal issues about confusing fonts where a 5 can look like a 6
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0...

RTA says any signs have to be adequate to inform

Mods can we keep this in GG for at least a few days for normal PHers before it's bumped into SP&L
thanks

[wst]

I believe I've seen the odd 50 in a sea of 60's on the M25 near the M40 junction since 2011, but that wasn't very frequent considering the amount of times I was on that bit of road.

[VxDuncan]

Needs a yes and changed my speed appropriately option. Sometimes the speed limits are all over the place, all you can do is monitor every single gantry and behave appropriately.

[s p a c e m a n]

They do this a lot on the variables up the M20 and coming down to the Dartford bridge, must just be a coincidence that there's always a camera on the one that is different.

[saaby93]

VxDuncan said:

Needs a yes and changed my speed appropriately option. Sometimes the speed limits are all over the place, all you can do is monitor every single gantry and behave appropriately.

added for you

[Buff Mchugelarge]

I did once see a matrix sign on the M4 that just said
"Don't hog the middle lane"
It was quite blunt an straight to the point, made me laugh

[littleredrooster]

I suspect that what happens is that the limit changes (because of density of traffic) and the 'solitary' sign that is seen is now actually the last sign in a series which have lowered their limit. Several preceding signs will have almost certainly been downgraded to 50 also, but as the observer's car has already passed these, it will appear that only one sign is out-of-synch.

Or perhaps not.

[bbob]

I've seen them up and down like a fiddlers elbow on the M42 going north before now. Deliberate? Who knows? Annoying? Yes!

[terry tibbs]

what is even more annoying is the fact the speed restrictions are left in place when the traffic is very light and the speed limit is easily attainable.

You just lose faith in the system altogether as it rather devalues the whole idea of a managed system

[wst]

terry tibbs said:

what is even more annoying is the fact the speed restrictions are left in place when the traffic is very light and the speed limit is easily attainable.

You just lose faith in the system altogether as it rather devalues the whole idea of a managed system

The idea is that there is something slow happening ahead and travelling at the reduced speed will mean you never quite reach the slow bit before it's moved along.