Unsigned speed limits
Posted: Wed Jul 12, 2023 6:57 pm
Here in Oxfordshire and West Berks, the local authorities seem to have deprioritised maintenance of traffic signs. I’ve submitted quite a few reports myself through fixmystreet about speed limit signs, including repeaters without any terminals and signs obscured by trees, but the reports just get closed and nothing gets done. There’s sometimes painted road markings between the invisible signs where the limit reduces, but they are easy to miss.
Question is… as an advanced driver, if you ‘know’ from local experience or by examining the Traffic Regulation Orders that the limit changes at a certain point, how do you act at the invisible transition?
When limit reduces and you are previously exceeding the new limit, do you slow down before the invisible sign as clearly required by law, or might that confuse or annoy following drivers? They’ll probably figure it out at the first repeater, or in one case I can think of the first Gatso camera, but that may be some distance away,
When limit increases, if safe to do so, accelerate just after the transition? That’s what I’d normally do with visible signs but when being tailgated through a village, the tailgater may think you have accelerated just to annoy them, unaware that the limit has actually changed. An annoyed tailgater can be a rather dangerous creature.
Question is… as an advanced driver, if you ‘know’ from local experience or by examining the Traffic Regulation Orders that the limit changes at a certain point, how do you act at the invisible transition?
When limit reduces and you are previously exceeding the new limit, do you slow down before the invisible sign as clearly required by law, or might that confuse or annoy following drivers? They’ll probably figure it out at the first repeater, or in one case I can think of the first Gatso camera, but that may be some distance away,
When limit increases, if safe to do so, accelerate just after the transition? That’s what I’d normally do with visible signs but when being tailgated through a village, the tailgater may think you have accelerated just to annoy them, unaware that the limit has actually changed. An annoyed tailgater can be a rather dangerous creature.