What would you do if you saw a 20mph variable speed limit on a motorway?

Shadowness said:
My point was a lot of the time there is no reason.
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Surely the point is that you have no way whatsoever of knowing if there's a reason. If you're slowed down fifteen miles from an incident to delay your time reaching that incident and having to stop in a queue, but that incident is cleared before you get there then there's a very good chance but you'll never know what it was. The temporary speed limit has done exactly what it's supposed to. It'll appear to you as though you were slowed down without a reason.
 
Feek said:
Just because you don't see what caused the initial signs, doesn't mean there wasn't something ahead. You can be slowed down some considerable distance ahead of an incident to reduce the amount of traffic that arrives at the same time and to stop you grinding to a halt ten miles down the road.

They don't just turn those signs on to annoy people, they're done for a reason.
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Feek said:
Surely the point is that you have no way whatsoever of knowing if there's a reason. If you're slowed down fifteen miles from an incident to delay your time reaching that incident and having to stop in a queue, but that incident is cleared before you get there then there's a very good chance but you'll never know what it was. The temporary speed limit has done exactly what it's supposed to. It'll appear to you as though you were slowed down without a reason.
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This. I'm sure this was explained the last time we had a thread about smart motorways. The whole point is to slow you down enough that you never actually run into congestion caused by an incident, yet some people still think they do it for fun.
 
I was heading north on the M40 a couple of weeks ago and about a mile or two before the Beaconsfield junction the signs on the gantry closed lanes 2 and 3 and lane one was reduced to 40mph and later to 30mph, so I dutifully moved over to lane one and slowed down to 40 then 30 thinkimg there might be a major accident ahead. The sheer number of people barrelling down lanes 2 and 3 at what must have been 70+ when the lane indicates that its shut was astonishing. If there was indeed a major accident ahead, then there would have been a pileup. So many head cases that shouldnt be holding licences
 
Bear said:
The sheer number of people barrelling down lanes 2 and 3 at what must have been 70+ when the lane indicates that its shut was astonishing.
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Going past a red cross in a lane should be an automatic three points.

https://nationalhighways.co.uk/road-safety/red-x/

Burnsy2023 said:
I was in a training course and the instructor said that if you see 20mph on a variable speed limit motorway, it means oncoming traffic in your carriageway - a vehicle going the wrong way. That might be many 10s of miles away due to needing to create a sterile area but might be over before you get to it. I never got taught about that prior to yesterday and wondered if anyone else knew.
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I didn't know that, it's interesting to learn. Thanks @Burnsy2023
 
Uther said:
On another note, why do most artics just keep barreling along at full speed ignoring the speed restrictions? Slow down on a motorway and one will be up your arse or barging into the middle lane to overtake almost immediately!
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You get this on my local A66 which has a 50mph section. Car owners complain all the time on FB about HGVs driving right up your bumper when you are doing 50mph and smug HGV drivers complain about the slow car drivers informing them all their speedos are 10mph out and they are only doing "50mph honest" and us car drivers just think they are.

Except the one which overtook me at great speed when my speedo said I was doing 60mph!!!!
 
Probably speed up in between the Camera’s if it appears to be clear.

Only kidding, it once happened to me and said debris in road so I listened to the limit in place to see absolutely nothing and then it suddenly went back to normal speeds after a lifetime at 20MPH.

M1 has Roadworks until Winter 2024 - Putting the hard shoulder back in and it’s causing so much congestion at peak times on and off the motorway, with average speed cameras set to 50 which I find bunches everyone up so closely across all lanes, not nice driving it daily.
 
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DRZ said:
It is in the form of responses to FOI requests made to HE.
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Do you have any links?

Edit:

www.gov.uk

Variable signs and signal policy

Response to a request for information regarding details of the variable signs and signal policy.
www.gov.uk www.gov.uk

Oncoming vehicle
A vehicle travelling against the flow of traffic creates extreme danger, so it shall be treated as a confirmed incident no matter the information source. A blanket 20mph speed restriction and the ‘ONCOMING VEHICLE’ legends hall be set in both directions of the reported location. The rationale for this action is that the driver of the oncoming vehicle could have their attention drawn to the VSS set on the opposing carriageway.
 
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a few years ago in light snow the M6 was showing 10mph and to absolute make it stupid it was in a SPECS zone
 
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Conscript said:
This. I'm sure this was explained the last time we had a thread about smart motorways. The whole point is to slow you down enough that you never actually run into congestion caused by an incident, yet some people still think they do it for fun.
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I know what the point is (the theory of it), but I don't agree it works in practice, bit like merge in turn. Imo if you've got cars going at 70 vs 40 you will get far more traffic passing through an area in the same time frame. Obviously if you do have to brake hard it's going to be much easier from 40 than 70, but a lot of the time when I've been on smart motorways it will change and I don't agree with them.
When I say change it might go 60/50/40/50/40 and I feel that causes more issues. I also don't trust that somebody miles away will shut a lane quickly for a broken down car/lorry when that's what the hard shoulder was for and you could actually get out (as staying in the car is dangerous).
 
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Burnsy2023 said:
I was in a training course and the instructor said that if you see 20mph on a variable speed limit motorway, it means oncoming traffic in your carriageway - a vehicle going the wrong way. That might be many 10s of miles away due to needing to create a sterile area but might be over before you get to it. I never got taught about that prior to yesterday and wondered if anyone else knew.
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I had this very experience a couple of years back on the M1 near Bedford, it turned out to be just what you said, an oncoming car heading northbound on the southbound carriageway, a Mercedes being followed at a distance by a few traffic cars, plenty of drivers seemingly ignoring the limit posted and a bit of violent manoeuvres to avoid the oncoming car, it was a surreal moment for sure.

I was aware of this, I'd been told of it during a Driver CPC course which I attended as part of my employment periodical training but this is the only time as of yet I've actually experienced it.
 
tom_e said:
Except when it's followed by a "speed limit is for air quality" sign:p
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Or like one I saw one evening...50mph forever for (system test).

hood1971 said:
A lot are foreign drivers that know they will never receive the fine, or need to pay.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-22871733
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Yep since we left the EU we aren't sharing the data. But it also means you can take the **** when in the EU too :D

Sometimes you see foreign plate cars just setting off every camera which is pretty funny.
 
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In my experience, any time those things show less than 60 they get increasingly ignored. I'd slow down but keep pace with the traffic around me, which is probably not doing 20.

Mind you, these days I'm usually driving my German car and I have a German license so I'm not sure I'm all that bothered by the threat of cameras :D
 
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