In the case I related above, the signs were simply switched off.ais523 wrote: ↑Wed Sep 01, 2021 03:47 In general, there seems to be an under-use of "end of restrictions" signs ("End" or NSL), although they may not have helped in this particular case. In my opinion, they should be switched on for some time after the restrictions end, so that people who were in the restrictions become aware that they no longer apply (as opposed to potentially getting no indication as to whether the gantries are broken or the restrictions have been silently revoked). The official guidance seems to disagree with me, suggesting keeping them on for 3 minutes at most, and in practice they seem to be on for a much shorter length of time or not at all.
FWIW, I had a similar experience to you once, but it was on a non-smart section of the M6, which meant that the limit and closure signs were advisory rather than mandatory; that made it a bit easier to use common sense in a situation like that one, but also reduced compliance with the restrictions in the first place. (It also meant that VMSes were few and far between, with only the occasional MS1 trying to explain what was going on, and mostly failing due to its tiny screen.)
I'm not going to pretend to be an expert on this, but I'd imagine that there might be some solution in staggering their switch off from the end of the affected section back towards the beginning (rather than staggering it from beginning to end, or switching all off at the same time)? That would prevent traffic that's been freed from restrictions from catching up with traffic that is still subject to them.
Something else that has occurred to me is that the scenario I described above actually creates a legal situation whereby traffic travelling on the same stretch of road at the same time is subject to different regulations! As the last sign I had passed said 40, that speed limit applied to me until I reached a sign that said otherwise (or was switched off). But that limit did not apply legally to any of vehicles over/undertaking me, as the sign that told me to do 40 had been switched off and did not apply to them by the time they passed it.
I know that different types of vehicle are often subject to different speed limits, but the situation we're talking about here is one where the limit is 40 for one person in one car, but 70 for a different person in an identical car. I know the police would not have been bothered about a driver in my situation twigging what was going on and putting their foot down, but from a strictly legal point of view that driver would technically be breaking the law (and by a huge margin) if they accelerated to 70 before they reached a gantry permitting them to do that speed.