Speed limit on dual carriageway (single lane)

[theboss]

Guys, can I get an absolutely definitive answer as to what speed limit applies on a road that consists of 'dual carriageways' with single lanes?

Here's an example, the A449 northbound carriageway near Worcester.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&a...

I interpret this as a 'dual carriageway' by definition as there are two carriageways separated by a central reservation, and therefore a 70mph national speed limit applies in either direction. Whilst traversing this road once I had a police offer tell me very insistently that I was wrong, and that a 60mph limit applies on any section of single-lane carriageway. I wasn't pulled over - the plod happened to be a family member sat in the front seat of my car.

[theboss]

Hooli said:

miniman said:

The highway code seems inconclusive:

Dual carriageways
A dual carriageway is a road which has a central reservation to separate the carriageways.

Sounds clear to me, the speedlimits section just says dual carriageways without defining a number of lanes & your above quote defines a dual carriageway.

That was exactly my reasoning as well. But having searched around for a conclusive answer I see a pretty even number of people arguing either 60mph or 70mph with no firm answer from the highway code. If I'm right and it's 70 then my experience goes to show that some police officers don't know either. This type of road layout is becoming increasingly common as many older A road DCs are hatched down to single lanes on safety grounds, so it would be useful to get a straight answer.

[theboss]

Nigel Worc's said:

70 mph for cars etc, but beware of the road you've listed, and (and I would hope you know this ..... otherwise you'll find out pdq) most of the A449 from worcester to Kidderminster is 50 mph (dual carrageway), and the last single carrageway bit is 40 mph

cos the locals want it that way !

It's a pathetic stretch of road. The heavily enforced 50mph section (which I don't particularly disagree with given the proximity of some housing plus a school) seems to have caused people to blindly slow down to the extent that the 50mph sections are sometimes crawling at 35-40mph and people flash in disbelief when you pass at 50. And I'm talking about when I drive this road most often which is on a late night weekend journey back from the South, not 9am on a Monday morning when it's head-to-tail towards Worcester and the school signs are up. I also see people back right off for the static cameras despite them all being situated in NSL zones, it's not uncommon for somebody to be doing 50 and still brake like mad for the camera. I hate this road but unfortunately it's the only route back to civilisation from where I live!!

[theboss]

Nigel Worc's said:

You AGREE with the limits ?

It's you is it ?

Well you don't deserve to be allowed to post on here to be honest !

I didn't say I agree with them... the point I tried to make, unsuccessfully, is that the road feels ridiculously and frustratingly slow not so much because of the limits (whether they are deemed overly harsh or not), but because people refuse to do the limits, even in the sections that shouldn't really be limited in the first place. So it's not uncommon to sit on a stretch of straight dual carriageway that was probably NSL for most of the last century but that is now restricted to 50 and hatched off, and yet some twunt decides in their safety focussed view of the world that it's really actually only fit for 35.

Edited by theboss on Tuesday 9th November 23:17