Worst speed limits in Britain

[L.J.D]

These seem grossly unfair. The second one was 50 then got slashed to 40 and judging by the state of the gatso on the first one i aint the only one who thinks so

https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=wakefi ... 99,,1,3.22

https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=wakefi ... .55,,0,9.8

[Fenlander]

What about this?

http://goo.gl/maps/BieIN

Complete with freindly GATSO just past the trees.

I think this one is fair enough - the M62 is not long for this world - the joys of the traffic lights at Queens Drive are not far over the brow of that hill, especially for an Audiot in full flow.

Yup, I don't have a problem with that one, knowing what comes next. Those traffic lights scared the carp out of me the first time I went through them, stopped at a red light with lorries either side of me and what seemed like a wall of headlights facing me in all directions.

[skiddaw05]

Those traffic lights scared the carp out of me

Sounds a bit fishy!

[poshbakerloo]

This one must be a strong contender

I don't get why that is bad, it is a local road though a small town.

[Bengley]

This one must be a strong contender

I don't get why that is bad, it is a local road though a small town.

I think the fact the speed limit starts so far before the town is the problem!

[hughster]

This one must be a strong contender

I don't get why that is bad, it is a local road though a small town.

I think the fact the speed limit starts so far before the town is the problem!

A whole 500 m before the town, to be exact.

The assumed logic that it needs to be a 30 because of the pavement on one side is somewhat contradicted by the other side of the village, where there is an unkerbed footpath alongside the NSL road (plus on-street parking and property frontages) for 1000 m before the 30 limit starts.

[roadrunner]

We really need to get back to using correct procedure for speed limit setting, it is a total mishmash of the whims of who-ever happens to be sitting at a desk on a given day, at the moment. (or which dipstick councillor has the loudest shout)

[domcoop]

What about this?

http://goo.gl/maps/BieIN

Complete with freindly GATSO just past the trees.

I think this one is fair enough - the M62 is not long for this world - the joys of the traffic lights at Queens Drive are not far over the brow of that hill, especially for an Audiot in full flow.

Yup, I don't have a problem with that one, knowing what comes next. Those traffic lights scared the carp out of me the first time I went through them, stopped at a red light with lorries either side of me and what seemed like a wall of headlights facing me in all directions.

I think the reason I raised this was because it is a permanent 50 on a mainline motorway (albeit that the motorway ends shortly thereafter, and albeit it is not a Trunk HA Motorway, but in this instance run by Liverpool City Council).

I take on board what you say about Audiots - although a little bit of natural selection wouldn't do too much harm in my view.

But do we really need a (50) and a gatso to tell people "You're going up a hill, towards the end of a motorway, where the lanes are getting narrower. It may be a good idea to drive carefully here". After all NSL does not mean it is compulsory to drive at 70 MPH +/- 10%!

Indeed, on the vast majority of occasions, the tailbacks go beyond here anyway - you'd struggle to do 40! But when it's quiet, it is by definition quiet, and therefore less of a problem.

Here's another similar one - similar part of the world.

http://goo.gl/maps/qbk7w

This one has no GATSO and can't see it ever being enforced, anyway - what's the difference between 60 and 70 (obviously not referring to HGVs). But why bother having it at all?

[chris486]

But do we really need a (50) and a gatso to tell people "You're going up a hill, towards the end of a motorway, where the lanes are getting narrower. It may be a good idea to drive carefully here".

Yes, yes, a thousand time yes - some people are so stupid they don't deserve to live.

Here's another similar one - similar part of the world.

http://goo.gl/maps/qbk7w

This one has no GATSO and can't see it ever being enforced, anyway - what's the difference between 60 and 70 (obviously not referring to HGVs). But why bother having it at all?

This is on the (B)east Lancs - a special case in so many ways. The last bit of NSL died on the Lancs about 6 years ago - the mile to the east of the M6.

IMO a 60 limit on a dual carriageway doesn't put me off the road - as a road geek I find they are often an interesting drive - take the A34 between Stafford and Trentham for instance - mostly 60 with a bit of 50 and 40 and bristling with Gatsos but a much more enjoyable drive than the parallel M6.

[PeterA5145]

All of the A580 east of the M57 is now underposted by at least 10 mph - some of the Salford stretches (most notably that running under the M60) by 20 mph.

[chris486]

All of the A580 east of the M57 is now underposted by at least 10 mph - some of the Salford stretches (most notably that running under the M60) by 20 mph.

My father and I have both used this road for our daily commutes in the past - Dad in the mid 1960s and I was using it last year.

I'd guess in Dad's day it was all derestricted but otherwise much the same road as it was last year. It is changing forever, sadly - I think it is a fascinating piece of British motoring history.

[Sunil_of_Yoxley]

Despite the bulk of the East Ham and Barking By-pass being lifted to 50mph from 40 a couple of years ago, Canning Town Flyover is still 30 westbound - D3 and 30!!

[Nicholas]

My father and I have both used this road for our daily commutes in the past - Dad in the mid 1960s and I was using it last year.

I'd guess in Dad's day it was all derestricted but otherwise much the same road as it was last year. It is changing forever, sadly - I think it is a fascinating piece of British motoring history.

As a lot of members know, this road is very much local to me so use it very regularly, the Salford bit pretty much daily as I commute to/from east Manchester. Detrunking is what has killed it.

The lowered speed limits, especially that damned 40mph stretch, incredibly annoys me as it has just butchered an incredibly busy route. I can understand the 40mph passing Moorside High School, although I think Salford's planning department are numpties for allowing the main access to the new school site to run off the A580 instead of running off Partington Lane as the original plan was for.

Most of the route needs to be NSL, except perhaps the short stretches around Lowton and the A571 multiplex. The 50mph limit through Lowton is reasonable due to the proximity of the junctions and the built-up nature of this area, likewise I would agree with this for the A571 bit. But the remainder ought to be increased back up to the original speed limits. The lowered speed limits are ignored by the majority of road users anyway.

And ban cyclists from using the road - they have a perfectly good track alongside it!

[ajuk]

As I started this thread I thought I'd mention a few.

As far as I'm aware the purpose of a duel carriageway is to allow traffic to go faster more safely, so it makes perfect sense to have it as a place to have the speed limit fall. http://goo.gl/maps/eYq0c the road doesn't change in any other way there, it would make more sense to have it fall to 40 by the railway bridge and then have it go back to 50 after Sylvan way, because since the speed limit went down your essential telling people that the maximum safe speed you can go at is the same here as it is here. It gets worse further on there is a completely arbitrary 30 zone in which there are only houses on the one side, once you get back to houses on both sides the speed limit goes back up to 40.

This road is now a 40 zone, I have no idea why, but if you stick to it be prepared for a tail back behind you and some dangerous overtakes to your right. Also off it is Coalsack Lane which is a mandatory 30, don't know why but it's unenforced and just means that when the road does reach a build up area the speed limit doesn't fall, same danger is Over Lane between Almondsbury and Over.
Oh and when you get to Yate along Westerliegh road you can go here and do 50 in a build up area.

[James]

As I started this thread I thought I'd mention a few.

As far as I'm aware the purpose of a duel carriageway is to allow traffic to go faster more safely, so it makes perfect sense to have it as a place to have the speed limit fall. http://goo.gl/maps/eYq0c the road doesn't change in any other way there, it would make more sense to have it fall to 40 by the railway bridge and then have it go back to 50 after Sylvan way, because since the speed limit went down your essential telling people that the maximum safe speed you can go at is the same here as it is here. It gets worse further on there is a completely arbitrary 30 zone in which there are only houses on the one side, once you get back to houses on both sides the speed limit goes back up to 40.

This road is now a 40 zone, I have no idea why, but if you stick to it be prepared for a tail back behind you and some dangerous overtakes to your right. Also off it is Coalsack Lane which is a mandatory 30, don't know why but it's unenforced and just means that when the road does reach a build up area the speed limit doesn't fall, same danger is Over Lane between Almondsbury and Over.
Oh and when you get to Yate along Westerliegh road you can go here and do 50 in a build up area.

Always weird when the road changes to a worse grade, and the speed limit goes down (not to mention all the 50's that are NSL on each much lower quality side road). Loughborough does a speed limit change when the road goes from D2 to S2 here http://goo.gl/maps/7TWTV

[ajuk]

Could that not be to somewhat offset the drop in capacity, the road seems to get semi urban near where the D2 starts. Could there be more examples of seemingly overly lenient speed limits in this thread?

[SarahJ]

What we got here in Brighton was a consultation. Then the council looks at the results, and does it anyway. What you do find is people want lower limits outside their house, but knowhere else.
The latest one however has gone through with some minor changes. the council wanted 20 everywhere, but some will stay 30, like here
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ll ... 2,348,,0,0

its a D2 btw, well D1 + P

and here:

https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ll ... 55.36,,0,0

and here

https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ll ... 85.53,,0,0

The road to the left is a service rd where the cars park and will be a 20, which is fine, 20 is fine on this road.

[Helvellyn]

As far as I'm aware the purpose of a duel carriageway is to allow traffic to go faster more safely,

Maybe going a little off-topic but I'd argue that the main purpose of a dual carriageway is to be able to carry more traffic without getting clogged up. The fact that it's safer to travel at a higher speed on an unclogged D2 compared to an unclogged S2 is more of a handy side-effect. A single carriageway road that had the same alignments and was GSJed could IMO justify the same speed limit (I think that's slightly separate to making it much harder to get idiots on the wrong side of the road), but if it's worth building one to those standards it probably means there's enough traffic to require building a dual carriageway.

[AJK1982]

I have still yet to fathom the logic as to why the A293 in Brighton between the A270 and A259 is 20. If it was for the schools then surely this would be 20 too...

[ajuk]

As far as I'm aware the purpose of a duel carriageway is to allow traffic to go faster more safely,

Maybe going a little off-topic but I'd argue that the main purpose of a dual carriageway is to be able to carry more traffic without getting clogged up. The fact that it's safer to travel at a higher speed on an unclogged D2 compared to an unclogged S2 is more of a handy side-effect. A single carriageway road that had the same alignments and was GSJed could IMO justify the same speed limit (I think that's slightly separate to making it much harder to get idiots on the wrong side of the road), but if it's worth building one to those standards it probably means there's enough traffic to require building a dual carriageway.

The road is already 4 lanes before it goes dueled, also a NSL D2 or even D1 is a 70 limit while a NSL S4 is 60.

20 zones are great outside schools, I pay attention to them, put them everywhere I tend to ignore them, and then probably don't even notice the schools.