December 28, 2005 02:16 PM
All public roads in Britain which have a legal speed limit. So whatever is the purpose of 'derestricted' speed signs on British roads?
As ever at Christmas, I've spent many hours during the celebrations making distinctly un-festive journeys along motorways and travelling between various towns. (No trains, so we have to drive.)
This is never fun, but the more I look around me - I'm usually the passenger - the more I wonder about whether it actually also has to be confusing as well as tedious.
Everybody, or so I assume, now knows that the maximum speed limit on motorways is 70 miles per hour (m.p.h.). But does everyone know exactly the speed limits on other parts of the road system? Yes, most (but not all) built-up roads have a limit of 30 m.p.h.; and some smaller domestic routes are now 20. But there's far more to it than that.
The speed guessing game
So what should you read into a deresticted sign? There are general rules about speed limits for different types of road, but this isn't supposed to be an elaborate game of 'guess the speed limit'. Speed limits are there to stop accidents, not to test whether drivers have read the right parts of the Highway Code of late (though of course they should).
Since there is no public road in Britain which doesn't have a speed restriction, why are there derestricted signs? Why can't every speed limit sign display fair and square the maximum speed permitted at that point? This is one situation in which ignorance is definitely not bliss.
And shouldn't all speed cameras and their warning / approach signs display the maximum speed permitted? I have even actually seen derestricted signs up on the roadside immediately before (operating) speed cameras. Mixed messages or what?
Let's get real. The roads are no place for unnecessary confusion; and there is likewise no place anywhere for road signs which give no constructive, useful information. Either give every speed sign a proper m.p.h. limit, or, in the name of uncluttered minds and roads, take them down.
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Comments
But the dangerous situations aren't the roads to which the national speed limits applies (not derestricted), but the city roads which are clearly limited to 30mph, where that limit is universally ignored. And what's more, people who try to keep within it are subject to all sorts of bullying tactics from more impatient drivers.
I'd rather that resources were focussed on enforcing in town limits. The national speed limit after all varies accoding to the type of vehicle you are driving, and the type of road you are driving it on. That makes a BIG road sign!
Posted by: James | December 29, 2005 04:17 PM
The sign you refer to does in fact denote the 'national speed limit'. Many years ago if I recall correctly it mean 'derestricted' but that has now changed.
Posted by: Alan Kemp | March 20, 2006 05:46 PM
Thanks for this Alan (and James).
Nonetheless, these signs have got to be one of the worst examples on 'non-communication' - and on such an important, direct subject - which anyone could find.
There's a sign not far from here with a derestricted / national speed limit sign actually on the same pole as a speed trap notice... which means it's at a dangerous point in the road where the last thing we need is any doubt about what the maximum speed should be!
When it's safety which is the foremost aspect, I'm sure we'd all agree immediacy and transparency are the first, and quite vital, requirements.... The aim is to avoid accidents, not to engage in IQ, memory or observation tests as if it were some sort of game.
As James says, there may be more than one speed limit, depending on the sort of vehicle you're driving; but that's less common than not. And where it does apply, why not signs that say that too? Still much better than just relying on people to remember or know from the book - when we know all too well that not everybody works like that, whether they should or not.
We need to keep it simple and straightforward if we're serious about safety.
Posted by: Hilary Burrage | March 20, 2006 11:28 PM