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 Post subject: Confusing NSL limit
PostPosted: Fri Nov 21, 2008 01:10 
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There is a road I used today which has street lamps, they seemed to be roughly 200 yards apart and there were nsl repeaters of various sizes. To one side of the section there is a properly signed 30 limit. To the other a signed 50. I'm thoroughly confused by what limit is actually in force. The repeaters include full size roundels, gatso signs with a nsl sign in them and normal tiny repeaters. The first repeater was washed out and invisible. All in all it looks like a right dog's dinner.

What is the hierarchy for limits in terms of lamp posts vs lamp post distance vs repeaters? If there are lamp posts at any distance apart and repeaters of any kind does this automatically make it a 60 or does it work out that the lamp posts mean 30 but the repeaters cancel it out so it's 60 but without repeaters it is then 30? What happens where there are missing or washed off repeaters?

There is a gatso in the middle of it and everyone belts through at 40-60. 1 in 20 do about 30. I have never seen anyone set off the camera, ever. If it is the distance apart rather than the repeaters that make the difference how in god's name are you supposed to tell what is above or below 200 yards??

As there is a marked 30mph zone and a marked 50mph zone it would infer it was 60mph in that section even with the repeaters and street lamps otherwise the 30mph zone would have just been extended to the 50 further up surely?

Could someone draw me a simple nsl limit decision flowchart? :D


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 Post subject: Re: Confusing NSL limit
PostPosted: Fri Nov 21, 2008 02:20 
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In a built-up area, if there are road lamps, at a distance apart of less than 185 metres, and there are no other speed signs (40/50/nsl) then the speed limit is 30mph.
If there are street lamps and a length of road has a nsl sign (each side at the start) then the limit is s/c nsl (60) (there shall also be repeaters along that stretch)
If the speed limit changes, then the change shall be announced by the large signs (each side) (and repeaters as well)
Note: street lamps mean lamps higher than 3.96 metres. Any lower would be a "footway" lighting system.

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 Post subject: Re: Confusing NSL limit
PostPosted: Fri Nov 21, 2008 09:49 
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teabelly wrote:
There is a road I used today which has street lamps, they seemed to be roughly 200 yards apart and there were nsl repeaters of various sizes. To one side of the section there is a properly signed 30 limit. To the other a signed 50. I'm thoroughly confused by what limit is actually in force. The repeaters include full size roundels, gatso signs with a nsl sign in them and normal tiny repeaters. The first repeater was washed out and invisible. All in all it looks like a right dog's dinner.

Are there NSL signs on the back of the 30 and 50 terminal signs? If so, it sounds a fairly open-and-shut case of being NSL - at least there are repeaters within the zone, if not all the same size.

Don't forget that the absence of repeaters may affect the enforceability of a limit, but doesn't by itself change the actual limit - that depends on the speed limit order applying to the road.

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


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 Post subject: Re: Confusing NSL limit
PostPosted: Fri Nov 21, 2008 10:50 
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So NSL signed limits with repeaters are always 60 mph essentially ( for cars) is what you are both saying? To be 30s they have to always have the 30 mph roundel and no repeaters so an NSL sign + lamp posts without repeaters is 60?


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 Post subject: Re: Confusing NSL limit
PostPosted: Fri Nov 21, 2008 11:29 
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teabelly wrote:
So NSL signed limits with repeaters are always 60 mph essentially ( for cars) is what you are both saying? To be 30s they have to always have the 30 mph roundel and no repeaters so an NSL sign + lamp posts without repeaters is 60?

Yes, or 70 if a dual carriageway.

It's a fact of life that many limits over 30 on lit roads are lacking their full complement of repeaters, but basically if there are NSL repeaters it clearly means it's an NSL.

Where is the road in question, by the way?

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


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 Post subject: Re: Confusing NSL limit
PostPosted: Fri Nov 21, 2008 11:46 
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An NSL sign with lamp posts should have repeaters at intervals:

Quote:
(2) Subject to paragraphs (3) and (4), signs to which this paragraph applies shall be placed at regular intervals along a road which is subject to a restriction, requirement, prohibition or speed limit which can be indicated by the signs.


Quote:
Note that the requirement to provide repeater signs to indicate that a road is subject to the national speed limit only applies if the road has a system of street lights (lamps not more than 200 yards apart). In this case the sign used is the 'derestriction' sign, known in TSRGD as diagram 671. The purpose of providing signs in these circumstances is to advise drivers that the road is not subject to a 30mph speed limit, which a system of street lighting normally implies.


The repeater signs are a requirement but the distance is variable. They are a requirement in areas subject to a speed other than 30 in an area lit by street lamps.

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2002/20023113.htm

I do not recommend reading the above...if only because it is confusing.

Quote:
(4) The sign shown in diagram 670 (except when displayed on a variable message sign in the manner mentioned in regulation 58(7)(b)) shall not be placed along -

(a) a road on which there is provided a system of carriageway lighting furnished by lamps lit by electricity placed not more than 183 metres apart in England and Wales or not more than 185 metres apart in Scotland and which is subject to a speed limit of 30 mph; or

(b) a motorway on which a national speed limit is in force.

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The world runs on oil, period. No other substance can compete when it comes to energy density, flexibility, ease of handling, ease of transportation. If oil didn’t exist we would have to invent it.”

56 years after it was decided it was needed, the Bedford Bypass is nearing completion. The last single carriageway length of it.We have the most photogenic mayor though, always being photographed doing nothing


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 Post subject: Re: Confusing NSL limit
PostPosted: Fri Nov 21, 2008 11:49 
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PeterE wrote:
teabelly wrote:
So NSL signed limits with repeaters are always 60 mph essentially ( for cars) is what you are both saying? To be 30s they have to always have the 30 mph roundel and no repeaters so an NSL sign + lamp posts without repeaters is 60?

Yes, or 70 if a dual carriageway.

It's a fact of life that many limits over 30 on lit roads are lacking their full complement of repeaters, but basically if there are NSL repeaters it clearly means it's an NSL.

Where is the road in question, by the way?


The road is the A5011 called Linley Road which comes out of Talke Pits. It is a short section from the A34 that goes along to a cross roads where you turn off for Alsager or head off down towards Church Lawton and onto Rode Heath.


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 Post subject: Re: Confusing NSL limit
PostPosted: Fri Nov 21, 2008 11:59 
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jomukuk wrote:

Quote:
Note that the requirement to provide repeater signs to indicate that a road is subject to the national speed limit only applies if the road has a system of street lights (lamps not more than 200 yards apart). In this case the sign used is the 'derestriction' sign, known in TSRGD as diagram 671. The purpose of providing signs in these circumstances is to advise drivers that the road is not subject to a 30mph speed limit, which a system of street lighting normally implies.


The repeater signs are a requirement but the distance is variable. They are a requirement in areas subject to a speed other than 30 in an area lit by street lamps.

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2002/20023113.htm

I do not recommend reading the above...if only because it is confusing.



I think I read the above link which is how I became very confused! It would be much easier if they included pictures :D


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 Post subject: Re: Confusing NSL limit
PostPosted: Fri Nov 21, 2008 12:45 
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teabelly wrote:
PeterE wrote:
Where is the road in question, by the way?

The road is the A5011 called Linley Road which comes out of Talke Pits. It is a short section from the A34 that goes along to a cross roads where you turn off for Alsager or head off down towards Church Lawton and onto Rode Heath.

Yes, I'm familiar with that one, although it's a few years since I've been along it. It always was an NSL with clear terminal signs at each end.

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"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


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 Post subject: Re: Confusing NSL limit
PostPosted: Mon Nov 24, 2008 03:07 
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Right.....Now, Would you mind if I asked you to explain all that to my Polish friend "Martin" and even my American friend "Janice".......who declares herself to be "totally confused!"


When I drive in Poland.......OR........ in America for that matter , the speed limit for that section of road is clearly shown! Why on earth do we in the UK have such if's or buts?......


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