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Dual carriageway Speed

Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2016 8:46 pm
by Mini Spirit
Hi guys there is no no indication of speed on this very short dual carriageway, I presume it would still be a 70 maximum?

Dropped pin
near 15-16 Dudley St, Wednesbury, West Midlands WS10 7DX
https://goo.gl/maps/w95q5rNpZ782

Re: Dual carriageway Speed

Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2016 9:57 pm
by martine
Well, street lights mean 30 unless there are signs to the contrary. The only exceptions are motorways which have their own special rules.

Re: Dual carriageway Speed

Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2016 10:53 pm
by fungus
I woud imagine that it's 30, but it would depend on whether any of the roads approaching the two roundabouts, especially the other dual carriageways have a higher limit and whether the limit changes before the roundabouts. Also, is the road part of a main arterial route which might have a bearing on the speed limit?

Nigel.

Re: Dual carriageway Speed

Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2016 11:29 pm
by devonutopia
If you look on the approaches to the roundabout there are 30 limit signs, so that short of bit of dual carriageway is also 30 as there's no signs to change the limit from 30.

Link to where signs are. You will have gone through these if you'd taken the roundabout. Therefore if you are doing 70, bye bye license :)

https://www.google.com/maps/@52.551471, ... 6?hl=en-GB

Re: Dual carriageway Speed

Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2016 12:02 am
by Mini Spirit
devonutopia wrote:If you look on the approaches to the roundabout there are 30 limit signs, so that short of bit of dual carriageway is also 30 as there's no signs to change the limit from 30.

Link to where signs are. You will have gone through these if you'd taken the roundabout. Therefore if you are doing 70, bye bye license :)

https://www.google.com/maps/@52.551471, ... 6?hl=en-GB


If your coming from the Holyhead rd past Wednesbury police station to get on the dual carriageway there's no speed limit, & if you come from Leabrook rd A4037 & turn left, again you go straight onto a dual carriageway with no speed signs, I was under the impression that a speed limit of 70 usually applies to a dual carriageway unless A sign shows otherwise.

Re: Dual carriageway Speed

Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2016 12:32 am
by Mini Spirit
martine wrote:Well, street lights mean 30 unless there are signs to the contrary. The only exceptions are motorways which have their own special rules.

I agree Street lighting means a 30 mph limit unless signs show otherwise. This applies to all traffic on all roads in England and Wales, according to wickpedia "A dual carriageway in a built up area will have a statutory speed limit of 30 mph (48 km/h) unless otherwise sign-posted. It is common for such urban dual carriageways to have an increased speed limit of 40 mph (64 km/h). A built up road is indicated by the presence of street lights, on lit dual carriageways that are not considered to be in a built-up area, the speed limit will be clarified with intermittent signs." https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual_carriageway :roll:

Re: Dual carriageway Speed

Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2016 7:22 am
by Gareth
Mini Spirit wrote:If your coming from the Holyhead rd past Wednesbury police station to get on the dual carriageway there's no speed limit

If you were coming from the north-west end of Holyhead Road at the same time as the Google vehicle filmed it, you'd have seen the 20 mph zone ending on approach to the roundabout, reverting to a 30 mph limit.

Re: Dual carriageway Speed

Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2016 8:30 am
by Strangely Brown
If in doubt, look into the side roads. If there are no speed limit signs there then it's a pretty safe bet that you're in a 30. As others have said: street lights = 30 unless otherwise signed.

Re: Dual carriageway Speed

Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2016 1:14 pm
by martine
Mini Spirit wrote:...I was under the impression that a speed limit of 70 usually applies to a dual carriageway unless A sign shows otherwise.

Yes but street lights always win...if they are present then the speed limit is 30 (if there are no repeater signs).

In Bristol the ring road has a multitude of speed limit changes but where you leave a 30 (roundabout) it has a pair of NSL signs signifying the change to 70...then because it has street lights there are regular NSL repeater signs to remind you it's not the default 30.

So the rules are pretty simple (on non-motorways):

  • Street lights signify 30
  • No street lights - single carriageway 60
  • No street lights - dual 70
UNLESS signs indicate otherwise.

Any repeaters have to be every few hundred metres (depending on the limit) often alternating sides of the road. So if there are no repeaters for say 500m - then it's safe to assume the default speed limit as above.

Re: Dual carriageway Speed

Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2016 1:34 pm
by devonutopia
Mini Spirit wrote:
devonutopia wrote:If you look on the approaches to the roundabout there are 30 limit signs, so that short of bit of dual carriageway is also 30 as there's no signs to change the limit from 30.

Link to where signs are. You will have gone through these if you'd taken the roundabout. Therefore if you are doing 70, bye bye license :)

https://www.google.com/maps/@52.551471, ... 6?hl=en-GB


If your coming from the Holyhead rd past Wednesbury police station to get on the dual carriageway there's no speed limit, & if you come from Leabrook rd A4037 & turn left, again you go straight onto a dual carriageway with no speed signs, I was under the impression that a speed limit of 70 usually applies to a dual carriageway unless A sign shows otherwise.


Holyhead road is blatantly a 30 limit (20mph further down it) and there is no change of limit signs anywhere on the roundabout / exits from roundabout etc, so you can not assume a dual carriageway is NSL without a sign. :)