Safe Speed Forums

Does anyone know if a 30 mph limit has a requirement to have street lighting?
A friend is trying to get his council to put up street lights in a stretch of road recently reduced to 30 mph, and wonders if they can be forced to place lighting along with the limit?

_________________
Time to take responsibility for our actions.. and don't be afraid of speaking out!

I don't believe so. If it's a 30mph with repeaters there needn't be street lighting.

Of course if there were no repeaters, street lighting would be needed to make the limit enforcable.

No - it works the other way round. If there are street lights and no repeaters showing that another limit is in force (like NSL), then the limit is automatically 30.
There is no reason why a 30 limit has to have street lights or repeater signs.
As an aside I have recently seen an NSL road with street lights where someone has obliterated the repeaters with grey paint.

Interesting. I thought they had to be removed to convert it to a 30. Vandalism maybe, or is the local authority thinking that people will drive slower without repeaters? Do the lollipops still say NSL?

_________________
Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler - Einstein

I think we mean the same thing. If there are no repeaters, it is 30 if there are street lights or NSL if there are no lights.

Yes, but you've got it the wrong way round. The speed limit applying to a road is determined by whether it has Restricted Road status or whether it has a Speed Limit Order applying to it. The presence or absence of streetlights or repeaters can affect the enforceability of the limit, but does not itself change the limit without the necessary traffic regulation order.

_________________
"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed

They sometimes do this when there is a temporary lower limit in force for roadworks, and then forget to remove the grey paint once the roadworks have gone (e.g. A558 Daresbury Expressway in Runcorn)

_________________
"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed

Peter - can you please explain Restricted Road status? I am even more confused after these posts.

How does this tie in with newspaper report last week of an unenforceable limit since no street lighting - or was that because it was a scam.

What I mean is that each road has a specific legal status. A Restricted Road is a road with a 30 mph speed limit which has a regular system of street lighting and so does not need repeaters. Any new urban road that was built would automatically become a Restricted Road unless the council varied the speed limit by means of a specific Speed Limit Order.

A council cannot change the speed limit on a road simply by putting up street lights - it also has to go through the legal process of changing the road's status.

Likewise, the speed limit on a road cannot change from NSL to 30 simply because street lights appear - the council have to erect 30 mph terminal signs to mark the change in limit, which also has to be backed up by traffic regulation orders.

The following page on the ABD website will help explain the legal situation:

http://www.abd.org.uk/speed_limit_signs.htm

_________________
"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed