What does this road sign mean.....

[estebanrey]

...to you in terms of speed limit, when you're driving a car on a single carriage country road for example?

....because it seems sometimes I'm the only one who knows it means 60 mph.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_speed_limits_in_the_United_Kingdom#National_speed_limits

The number of times I sit behind someone doing 40 after this sign is amazing and makes me question why they don't just replace it with 60 signs.

I said to a relative I was driving the other day after driving past one on a single carriageway, "Why don't people know that means you can go 60" and their reply was "I thought it meant 50". I just sighed.

Before anyone jumps down my throat with the cliche about limits being limits and not targets (I respect that and I'm not one of those idiots who'll drive up someone's backside because they're doing the speed limit or a just under), I'm specifically referring to the misunderstanding of the sign and not people who don't like driving fast in general.

I've seen people who'll happily drive at 35 mph in a 30 zone before a sign and then creep up to a little over 45 after it. I've seen people pulling away from me on one part of the road (as they are speeding) only for me to catch up and have to slow right down after a National Speed Limit sign.

The only reason I can think they were invented was to save money, rather than print numerous different signs with different numbers on them, just have one and expect the driver to translate it later but I think it's time it is retired and replaced with plain and simple numeric speed signs.

Did you get the answer right when you saw the image above or like many, did you think it meant 40, 50 or even something else?

 

[estebanrey]

It means NSL, not 60.

...to you in terms of speed limit, when you're driving a car on a single carriage country road for example?

Please read the OP properly before replying.

Thank You

 

[estebanrey]

It means NSL which could be 60 or 70 depending on the amount of lanes.

..or 30 if it's a restricted area. As above, I'm aware of the various NSL limits but I gave a specific example at the start which stated we were talking about a single carraige country road, hence it means 60.

 

[estebanrey]

It means NSL which could be 60 or 70 depending on the amount of lanes.

I asked what the sign meant "in terms of speed limit" then gave the conditions. I didn't ask what the sign was called.

 

[estebanrey]

Also depends what vehicle your driving too so it means all sorts of different limits depending on circumstances.

Yes, hence why I said "when you're driving a car".

 

[estebanrey]

Right....but it still means 60 if you are driving a car with no trailers (IE just the car) down a single carriage country road regardless if the road doesn't seem like it should be NSL.

Honestly the amount of nit picking is hilarious

Thank you

 

[estebanrey]

That sign means beware Broken tunica albuginea ahead.

I thought this thread might go that down that road......so might as well

http://www.proshieldsafetysigns.co.uk/signs/7555_signs.jpg

'Open An Umbrella Now'

[B][COLOR="Yellow"]No Hotlinking [/COLOR][/B]

 

[estebanrey]

That sign means you can drive at whatever speed is 'safe' up to the national speed limit for your vehicle...

Mind you I can see where the OP is coming from as I live in the countryside and there are numerous drivers out there that can't even manage 40mph on a stretch of road that used to be 60mph and now restricted to 50mph (no real need just done for bureaucracy).... and then go through the following 30mph and then 20mph zone where there's a school at around 40mph.

And don't get me started on the drivers that slow down when a car/lorry is approaching on a normal road (two clearly defined lanes) and nothing is in front of them. Seriously if you need to slow down on a normal road with two clearly defined lanes so no other vehicle is going to come on your side of the road then you should really consider not driving.

Yes, you've got exactly where I'm coming from with that.

Another really annoying one which happened twice to me today is when you are driving on a dual carriageway at 70 mph and see a car behind, let's say for example, a bus, both happily driving along at 60 in the "slow lane" a couple of hundred metres further on. Then, just as you approach them in the "fast lane", they decide they suddenly aren't happy driving behind the bus at 60 anymore (despite having plenty of time to over take much earlier and seemed happy following the bus) and move over in front of you to over take meaning you have to press the brakes and slow down to the 63 mph they've now decided they want to go out of nowehere

 

[estebanrey]

I do think perhaps we should look into the scandinavian way of teaching driving, a lot of folk could benefit with knowing what happens when you push a car beyond its limits, it'd give more confidence to nervous drivers and perhaps better still a bit of perspective to overconfident drivers who might otherwise wind up wrapped round a tree.

Sounds like a good idea, I'd love to see the stats for how many accidents professional motor sports drivers have on average when driving their normal car on the road compared to the general population. I would bet good money on it being lower.

 

[estebanrey]

There's a section of road I travel on daily to work heading out of Manchester, it goes 40>50>Motorway in the space of about a mile. The amount of times you get someone up your arse in the 40/50 zone when you are overtaking people doing low 40/50s and then you pull over to let them past but when you get to the motorway they still do 50/60.

I've got a mate who drives a big van at 40 mph everywhere. He'll go from holding up a queue of cars in a 60 zone to making you hold tightly onto the dash board and close your eyes in a cul-de-sac.

He jokes that it's because 40 is the speed at which he gets optimal petrol consumption.....but then he is a tight bugger so it's probably the actual reason.

 

[estebanrey]

The road I live on is mostly NSL.

And if you want to drive at 60mph go ahead. But you will crash and you might die. There is certainly not going to be anyone around to call and ambulance.

If you gave me a Sat Nav, I'd go 60+ down there...



...not because I'd use it to gauge the bends and see where the straights are; but because it would have an 'expected arrival time' and I can't resist reading that as 'time to beat'

 

[estebanrey]

"It's a limit, not a target."

Before anyone jumps down my throat with the cliche about limits being limits and not targets (I respect that and I'm not one of those idiots who'll drive up someone's backside because they're doing the speed limit or a just under), I'm specifically referring to the misunderstanding of the sign and not people who don't like driving fast in general.

I've seen people who'll happily drive at 35 mph in a 30 zone before a sign and then creep up to a little over 45 after it. I've seen people pulling away from me on one part of the road (as they are speeding) only for me to catch up and have to slow right down after a National Speed Limit sign.

 

[estebanrey]

I wonder how many folk quoting the old "its a limit not a target" have had their daily commute on nice a roads where its completely safe to do a solid 60 the whole way blocked and delayed every single day by some bugger doing 40 and holding up a string of traffic a mile long.

Theres being safe and confident. Then theres enraging 100+ people on a daily basis during rush hour for no good reason.

Jasper Carrot used to do a joke about his nan's slow driving, he'd say "she's never had an accident...but she's seen thousands"

The point being people who drive significantly less than the speed limit (like 40 when it's perfectly safe to do 60) are on balance driving dangerously because they can frustrate others into making mistakes.