The national speed limit sign...
Discussion
The black stripe through the white sign, what's the point of this?
Why not just put the actual speed limit for that part of the road on the sign instead?
Yes, im sure we are all supposed to remember religiously the speed limit for each kind of road, but frankly, im never that certain after 30 odd years of passing my test( and now live abroad for the last 15 years), how a European holiday maker gets on ive no idea!
Is there another reason for putting these up other than to just make me worry if I got it right as I pass a speed camera just after such a sign?
There has to be another reason right?
Why not just put the actual speed limit for that part of the road on the sign instead?
Yes, im sure we are all supposed to remember religiously the speed limit for each kind of road, but frankly, im never that certain after 30 odd years of passing my test( and now live abroad for the last 15 years), how a European holiday maker gets on ive no idea!
Is there another reason for putting these up other than to just make me worry if I got it right as I pass a speed camera just after such a sign?
There has to be another reason right?
brillomaster said:
More like lower them. Round Warwickshire roads are all 50mph for no good reason, get over the border to Oxfordshire and magically the road goes back to 60mph.
I can well see the national speed limit being dropped to 50 at some point.
I believe it's in consultation already. The issue is sometimes you see the National limit on roads where 40 is too fast and other times where 60 is safe . It's too widely used. I can well see the national speed limit being dropped to 50 at some point.
I asked my daughter who is 30 the other day what it meant and she said it was no parking.
She took her test 10 years ago mine was 42 years ago . I explained what it meant .
brillomaster said:
More like lower them. Round Warwickshire roads are all 50mph for no good reason, get over the border to Oxfordshire and magically the road goes back to 60mph.
I can well see the national speed limit being dropped to 50 at some point.
Apparently by setting the limit to 50 the road is 'derated' meaning a lower road surface quality is allowed. Which explains the shocking state most of them are in.I can well see the national speed limit being dropped to 50 at some point.
Andy86GT said:
brillomaster said:
More like lower them. Round Warwickshire roads are all 50mph for no good reason, get over the border to Oxfordshire and magically the road goes back to 60mph.
I can well see the national speed limit being dropped to 50 at some point.
Apparently by setting the limit to 50 the road is 'derated' meaning a lower road surface quality is allowed. Which explains the shocking state most of them are in.I can well see the national speed limit being dropped to 50 at some point.
A load nearby to me, and on the commute, have been derated to 50. Surface is now shocking, and there were very very few accidents so no reason to reduce at all
Mr Tidy said:
Some of them pre-date the 70 limit brought in as a temporary measure in 1965 that we still have nearly 60 years later. 
NSL signs before that meant whatever speed you can get to!
And in those days, open rural roads had no limit either!NSL signs before that meant whatever speed you can get to!
Some roads are also ‘special roads’, that are declared and posted as 70mph. An example is the A55 at
The Colwyn Bay Bypass: Wikipedia explains it better than I can:
…
Two sections between (Junction 23) Llanddulas to (Junction 17) Conwy are assigned 70 mph speed limits because they are actually special roads. This is because these sections were built under legislation for building motorways but they were never declared as motorways. Legally it means these two stretches of the A55 are neither part of the national UK motorway network nor trunk roads. As such, the national speed limit does not apply so 70 mph signs (the maximum speed permitted on UK roads) are used instead. Unlike other sections of the A55 that have National Speed Limit (NSL) signage and are accessible to all motor vehicles, motorway restrictions are enforced on these two stretches of road (therefore no pedestrians, learner drivers, etc.)
cliffords said:
I believe it's in consultation already. The issue is sometimes you see the National limit on roads where 40 is too fast and other times where 60 is safe . It's too widely used.
Ironically Ireland is switching to an analogue of the NSL sign in place of specific 80 ( km/h ) placards for that reason: people unfamiliar with country roads would see 80 signs and assume the road is suitable for that speed.However whilst they're introducing these signs they're also reducing the local speed limit to 60.
Cats_pyjamas said:
Because the national speed limit differs, depending on what vehicle is being driven (and road type single Vs dual carriageway)?
That's not the reason. Even when trucks were limited to 40 on single carriageways there were still sections posted as 50.Incidentally the single carriageway limit was 50 for a few years in the 70s even after the fuel crisis blanket 50 limit had been lifted.
When it was raised to 60 there was no effect on either speeds or accidents, I think the following year showed something like 2MPH increase in average speed and 2% reduction in accidents which is within normal variation.
But that doesn't stop the anti car brigade taking it as read that reducing it back to 50 would produce an accident free utopia.
It's not a speed limit sign, it's the opposite: a sign signifying the end of the speed limited section. Hence the speed limit reverts to the national speed limit.
That's why we call it the derestriction sign (although I'm sure there will now be a pile on of people who call it something else!)
That's why we call it the derestriction sign (although I'm sure there will now be a pile on of people who call it something else!)
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