I was browsing images connected to the DDR and the fall of the Wall and came across this image of the Friedrichstrasse (later Checkpoint Charlie) crossing in Berlin:



Note the NSL just in front of the iconic sector sign. This image isn't dated but is clearly before the Wall was built.

Questions:
• How widespread was use of this sign in Germany or elsewhere outside these islands or other areas of British influence?
• What is it doing in the middle of a large city anyway? Or are the Americans saying that as far as they're concerned you can go at any speed you like once you're in the Russian sector?

I'm currently wracking my brains to remember how I know it's safe to return to national speed limit when driving in Italy. I *think* it's because they use the same sign as we do.

A funny feature of Italian roads is that the NSL is not the same throughout the country. Unless it's been changed since I learnt the Italian rules, it is 100kph on the mainland. However, in Sardinia I have been told by locals that it is just 90. Even so, most traffic on main rural roads does about 120...

Although I've spent a fair amount of time in Italy, not much has been while driving, so I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure I've never seen a UK-style NSL sign there. I thought that urban restrictions were denoted by the 'end of name' sign (i.e. with a red slash through it) and ends of other non-standard restrictions by a numerical higher limit (as in Ireland).

I too am not aware of either Germany or the USA ever using UK-style derestriction signs, they both just post a higher rural limit or say "End of Town" (ie end of limit). The Germans of course have never had a national speed limit.

My hunch is that it means something other than Speed Derestricted.

It means "End of Local Restrictions" in Europe - i.e. end of No Overtaking, local Speed Limit, etc.

Only the UK/IRL used it to denote a national speed limit.

Germany nowadays uses a very similar sign to ours but instead of a solid black band it is several thin lines close together. As Bryn says, it relates to local restrictions in general, not just speed restrictions.

I suppose the reason for it being there in the picture is that you are leaving the American sector, and so the Americans would have had no control over what speed or other restrictions there are in the Soviet sector (nor would they care!).

As I recall they use that in France too, to cancel a speed limit other than a 50km/h urban limit which is of course canceled by the place name with a line through it.

If, in France, it is a plain derestriction sign it is, as Bryn suggests, a cancellation of all local restrictions. If it is cancelling something specific there is a monochrome rendition of the restriction being 'crossed out' on the sign.

New Zealand use the NSL sign for the same meaning we do, albeit their limit is 100km/h on both SC and DC.

Link

Funnily enough I added a bit about France to my earlier post, but I deleted it in case somebody said that we were talking about Germany so what they did in France was irrelevant!

I agree with Mark though, it's quite common to see for example an NSL sign with "70" crossed out (if you know what I mean), at the end of a village which began with a 70 sign above the village name - i.e. where they have overridden the default 50 limit with a 70 one.

Australia uses a very similar sign. It used to mean no speed limit, however many years ago default speed limits in each state and territory were introduced so it now means either 100, 110 or 130 depending on where you are. It's generally used where you leave a town or a poorly aligned section of road that necessitated a lower speed zone yet the roads authority does not want people to think you can drive at 100km/h.

IIRC from my Code de la Route, the red bordered sign for towns and villages is the only one with legal force for speed limits etc. Where the name is on a black sign it is a 'lieu dit', usually only a hamlet at best, and they are often signed now as 70km/h, as otherwise the 90 limit would apply, hence it being crossed out on leaving.

I can't tell how widespread it was in the past. In the years I can review, however, the sign is pretty common. Roadworks are almost always followed by it as well as crossroads with a reduced speed limit.

The one and only right answer.

On this pic of Friedrichstraße there is another similar sign 100m away, beyond the striped pole. This was in the DDR, if I recall correctly.

That's not quite what I was getting at. I wasn't thinking of the black sign places, but of things like this (apologies for the crappy drawing):-



Obviously the "Quelque Place" sign would usually impose a 50 limit, but sometimes I have seen a 70 above it as in the drawing, thereby applying a higher limit than usual, not a lower one as in the "black sign" case. When leaving "Quelque Place" and passing the crossed out name (which normally lifts a 50 limit), as I understand it there needs to be the NSL-with-70-crossed-through sign to remove the 70 limit and return it to 90.

This is only my impression from what I have seen on my travels though, I have never read or even seen a copy of the Code de la Route.

I see. My Code de la Route is currently in hiding and I haven't seen it for some time, but here goes. It may have changed, but where a speed limit was attached to the same sign installation as the name plate then it applied to the whole commune, until otherwise stated. If it was off set it applied to that road only.

Technically the crossed out sign should cancel out any rules applying to that commune and restore the standard road rules (which is why the priority diamond often sits with the sign to indicate the give way to the right rule is being overridden). AIUI it restores the 90 limit, but I could imagine the law being changed or practice being changed where a different limit has been imposed for it to be cancelled specifically as well for clarification to the motorist.

It's not used in Ireland anymore, since the changeover to metric speed limits.

These days, the actual limit is signed.

That's probably because of the different default speed limits on different road types: 50 km/h in built-up areas, 80km/h on local/regional roads, 100km/h on national (primary and secondary) roads and 120km/h on motorways.

Of course, all these default limits can be varied, hence the need to sign the actual limit.

Like West Berlin it is still often used at the edge of the jurisdiction.

Yes -- often the NSL sign is the only evidence that you've crossed the border.