What does this road sign mean.....

[doofer]

...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?

It's actually the Dunning-Kruger test image.

 

[sigma]

It means 40.

 

[Freefaller]

In the situation you describe 60mph

Yes I agree people that stick to 40mph and the carry on doing to 40mph in a 30mph afterwards is more irritating. However if a person is not a confident driver then I can get why 40 feels quick.

This sign though it the best one!

 

[Yaayuh!]

Edit - meh

 

[lsg1r]

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.

edit: freefaller, if a driver feels 40 is too quick because of confidence then surely they shouldn't be driving on the road, I know I'd have been failed when I took my test if I was 'too slow' etc

 

[Randomface74]

Signs are for people, cars won't need people, so no more should be spent on signs.

 

[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

 

[adolf hamster]

This sign though it the best one!

Funny all the roads i've driven that are genuinely like that dont have those signs, and all the ones that do are generally fine. Can't win em all i guess

 

[davieg]

This sign though it the best one!

That sign means beware Broken tunica albuginea ahead.

 

[sigma]

Guys, it means 40!

 

[FoxEye]

It means 'let the fun begin'.

This

But it doesn't mean "do 60". It means "as fast as is appropriate, up to a max of 60".

Or "as fast as you like if there's no cameras".

It's very possible for 60 to be too fast, and it's very possible for a road to have a 40 limit for no apparent reason.

Abitrary speed limits are arbitrary. You can have a speed limit lowered by getting enough people to campaign for it, rather than any scientific reasoning.

OP, around here (south west), you're lucky if the bloke in front can do more than 20, if there's the slightest bend in the road. Soooooo many people who are basically afraid to drive, building rage in those of us who know what >50 mph feels like.

 

[Freefaller]

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.

edit: freefaller, if a driver feels 40 is too quick because of confidence then surely they shouldn't be driving on the road, I know I'd have been failed when I took my test if I was 'too slow' etc

I don't think so. If someone doesn't know the roads or is lost, or doesn't trust their car to perform as you approach the speed limit then why push it? It is a limit after all and not a target. Doing 40 on a NSL road Doesn't bother me as there will be an opportunity to overtake in due course.. What does bother me is the continuing of 40 once they have left the NSL zone.

Funny all the roads i've driven that are genuinely like that dont have those signs, and all the ones that do are generally fine. Can't win em all i guess

Yeah that does happen!

 

[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]

 

[Cosimo]

It means put your foot down when you want.

 

[bJN]

edit: freefaller, if a driver feels 40 is too quick because of confidence then surely they shouldn't be driving on the road, I know I'd have been failed when I took my test if I was 'too slow' etc

Disagree entirely that they shouldn't be on the road. There are plenty of reasons why someone might not be doing 60. If I'm in an unfamiliar area down back roads then I certainly won't be doing 60 for the most part.

 

[badgeruk]

This sign though it the best one!

Also this is 100% true.

 

[Moothead2]

Here it means go as fast as you want (at your own peril) .

 

[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

 

[Puzzled]

As said it means up to 60mph depending on conditions.

On country roads it essentially means the road hasn't been assessed for a speed limit. If a road has a 50mph limit then it has been signed off as being suitable for that speed, however there are plenty of nsl roads that you'd be mad to do over 30 / 40.

 

[adolf hamster]

Disagree entirely that they shouldn't be on the road. There are plenty of reasons why someone might not be doing 60. If I'm in an unfamiliar area down back roads then I certainly won't be doing 60 for the most part.

Had to drive a micra recently, courtesy car while my new one was in the garage, not gonna lie thats not a car i'd trust to do 60 on some roads (wile easy parking though)

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.