There's a road by me that has been a national speed limit road since I was born. It's a virtually straight road with no dangers anywhere, not even a random house in the middle of nowhere. Yet two days ago the powers-that-be decided to drop it to a 40, so now it's even more dangerous with people who refuse to be stuck behind some driving completely legally.

The road is no more than 500 yards from my house (it's the exit from the village I live in), so if nothing else I had expected to some sort of notification about it.

So, does anyone know whether I could request information why it was dropped to a 40? Or whether I would be able to initiate a consultation to get it back to 60?

This seems to be happening quite a lot....

As you point out nobody will stick to speed limits which are illogical.... I too have wondered if there is any logic behind it but knowing how rediculously complex the "system" is.. I doub't any one person would be able to explain why....

I hate to suggest getting MP's involved in anything or having anything to do with the likes of them...

BUT...

Since there is an election coming up and they are all so very keen to garner favour with potential voters
it might be worth an Email/letter/phone call.
They might be able to supply advice if nothing else.

Good luck.

I've managed to find the documents, looks like they dropped it to 40 because of the people who maintain 60 through the village. So instead of putting a camera up (or even speed bumps) they've just decided to drop the whole road to 40.

As if it's going to make any difference whatsoever.

Interestingly, I found the information by looking for my local councillor, they were in on it...

https://www.writetothem.com

very useful tool for contacting "elected" officials.

Anyone remotely thinking a speed limit once set can be increased in this country ..think again.Ain't gonna happen in a month of Sundays! Look back when the 70MPH blanket limit was introduced back in 50s and the reasoning behind it.No politician will sign on the dotted line for a reversal. Why? A single death caused by excess speed will be pinned squarely on them.

There is a road in my town that has recently has its speed increased! I was amazed. It used to be 30, into 40, but the 30mph section was reduced in length. First time I have ever known that happen.

And the lowering is usually initiated by a local person who gets the councillor to fight for it on their behalf. Because lowering limits is seen as a 'good' thing.

Occasionally I drive from home in Suffolk, up to Norwich, along the A140. All through Suffolk the maximum speed is 50mph (outside of villages), but as soon as you cross into Norfolk it's the national limit, 60mph. Suffolk Council's idea is that it will increase road safety - but you still get just as many accidents as we did before the speed reduction. The big difference once you get into Norfolk is that there is a stretch of dual carriageway at 70mph, followed by normal roads at 60mph. The driving in Norfolk is no better or worse than it is in the Suffolk bit...

They can be raised, on my old commute there was a long 40mph stretch along an A road and through a village, everyone just drove at 45+ straight through the village so they raised the road to 50mph and put short 30 section through the village, people actually slowed down that way.

go and cut the sign posts down, it will take years for someone in authority to find out

One thing you can be sure of, give it a couple of weeks and Kojak with Kodac (aka Speed camera van) will be out to gather some easy money.

quote:

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Originally posted by Wheels244
One thing you can be sure of, give it a couple of weeks and Kojak with Kodac (aka Speed camera van) will be out to gather some easy money.

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When I looked into this a few years ago the objection to lowering the speed limits was it's pointless if they cannot enforce it, sounds like your council is not being pragmatic.

Count yourself lucky its only a 40 limit, were about to have the whole city of Edinburgh reduced to a 20 limit

Without having any knowledge of the road one cannot comment on whether this is a reasonable thing to do but as others have said if they've done actually done it they're not likely to want to undo it as it probably cost a lot of money. I do feel though that if they have lowered the limit the police should be there to slow people down because as the OP mentioned you end up in this awful situation where by obeying the limit you're in danger of being crashed into by the many people speeding and passing dangerously.

Bristol brought in many 20 limits and does nothing to stop people speeding so its quite dangerous, there's a huge difference in how much space you need to pull out in front of someone doing 20 to one doing 30.

How long is the 40 limit stretch? Does it really have much effect on journey times? Does it have pavements?

Just about sums up the 'logic' of the authorities!

Can't remember where it was, but there was a program on TV a few nights back where the chap living on a corner in a village has had cars in his house/garden IIRC at least 40 times in 15 years!! The guy is scared stiff of spending more than a few seconds at the sink or in his garden as he's almost been wiped out several times. Apparently he's a nervous wreck!

It's a 40mph limit, and has got to be a candidate for a camera at least, but the authorities say "it doesn't meet the criteria" ! W.T.F!!!

Government handed the option to local authority's a while ago.

Road outside my house years ago was national speed limit. The signs moved over the years further and further up the road until there was about a mile left at nsl.

Then suddenly it dropped to 40, as did two other roads leading off it that were nsl.. Thing is these two roads cross from Sunderland into Co. Durham where the road turns from 40 back to national speed limit!

I don't think there's any chance of getting it back....