Now I don’t particularly know why I’m writing this. I make one long motorway journey once every two weeks, I think it’s mostly due to my confusion/annoyance over things I don’t particularly understand or see the point of.

My gripe is with the limited speed limits on the motorways (supposed to be around roadwork areas). They go on for ten bloody miles at some points!

I’m only 23 so don’t really know of what the solution used to be “back in the day” when roadworks were required on the motorways.

You’re not referring to that 50mph section around notts/s yorks on the M1 are you? Really annoying.

I’m not referencing that one specifically but thats what I’m getting at. I understand that they must be doing essential stuff. But I never see anyone doing anything at any time of the day. Its also usually on both bloddy sides of the motorway!

Must be some crazy reason behind it.. maybe to slow people down so they dont run workmen over or some over safety type nonsense that slows progress by 25%

We came across some repairs on the main motorway to the south in Morocco. They had laid about 10 rocks across the slow lane forcing you into the fast lane to avoid the road crew. No lights/reflectors etc. Just rocks 🙂

On our local 10 mile stretch of Dual carriageway they coned off the slow lane for the full length while a man walked down the verge with a sack picking litter.

Jeez its almost like we actually care about the lives of other workers over here. Surely we could just kill a few to save 5 minutes of your precious time.

On our local 10 mile stretch of Dual carriageway they coned off the slow lane for the full length while a man walked down the verge with a sack picking litter.

He wouldn’t need to pick it up if others didn’t drop it I guess

As for the the OP – what did people do before average speed systems around roadworks? Die a bit more frequently. The average speed system on a stretch of road near me has resulted in an average 7 funerals per annum instead of 22 funerals per annum.

a 10 mile stretch at 50mph through roadworks makes a difference of 3.5 minutes to your journey

The theory goes that 50mph maximises the flow (cars per hour) due to the reduced spacing compared to 70mph, despite the lower speed, so there are fewer jams. Also when everyone is limited to 50mph there’s less lane changing, which is what often triggers the ‘surges’ in heavy traffic that lead to totally stationary traffic 3 miles further back.

Maybe somewhere between conageddon and a hand full of rocks would be more appropriate. The 2 year works on the northern M60 to put up some illuminated signs is having a really bad effect on the flow of traffic, would have thought the excessive use of speed limits increases the risk of accidents in the stop start traffic that is created.

Greybeard – Member
The theory goes that 50mph maximises the flow (cars per hour) due to the reduced spacing compared to 70mph, despite the lower speed, so there are fewer jams. Also when everyone is limited to 50mph there’s less lane changing, which is what often triggers the ‘surges’ in heavy traffic that lead to totally stationary traffic 3 miles further back.

This is exactly the answer I wanted! Thanks so much!

cloudnine – Member
Must be some crazy reason behind it.. maybe to slow people down so they dont run workmen over or some over safety type nonsense that slows progress by 25%

See I definitely agree with this. However, the sections I’ve seen all seperate the “work site” and the motorway with what is essentially another metal barrier identical to that which separates the two sides of the motorway. Sometimes theres even a 4foot wall of concrete aswell.

thepurist – Member
Jeez its almost like we actually care about the lives of other workers over here. Surely we could just kill a few to save 5 minutes of your precious time.

The stereotypical thing to say is “well I’ve never seen anyone working”. and in all honesty, at all of the different times when I’ve done the journey I never have. I’m not fussed about the time, just a curious person.

stumpyjon – Member
Maybe somewhere between conageddon and a hand full of rocks would be more appropriate. The 2 year works on the northern M60 to put up some illuminated signs is having a really bad effect on the flow of traffic, would have thought the excessive use of speed limits increases the risk of accidents in the stop start traffic that is created.

I laughed so hard about this, as I moved away as they announced it!

We need some sort of cones hotline. People can phone it to find out why there are cones and why no one is working there. We could get John Major to answer the phones.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cones_Hotline

If only there was some sort of service which people could access from a range of devices, in which people could post information related to the cones, almost like one of those “public billboards” in the park. But accessible from anywhere, much like the cone hotline. 🙂

maybe to slow people down so they dont run workmen over

I think statistically if a car hits a pedestrian at 30mph or above the most likely outcome is death hence 20mph zones.

In the unlikely event you should hit a workman(got to find one first)at 50mph chances are your going to kill them , at 70mph your pretty much guaranteeing the end result.

As said previously its more to do with controlling the flow of traffic hence variable speed restrictions like on the M6 and such forth.

That temporary barrier in the road works will be rated to a lower speed crash resistance than the fixed central one. Even the concrete ones are lower speed rated as they are not secured to the carriageway.

I just set the cruise control and not worry about it. Does get exceedingly dull on the longer stretches though. Never ceases to amaze me how many cars / vans go past me like I’m standing still

the stereotypical thing to say is “well I’ve never seen anyone working”

The works that need to be done might not all be able to happen concurrently or consecutively – between those sessions of work the roads not necessarily ready to drive on and even if it was the most dangerous work to do is taking the cones away and putting them back again, as thats when the workforce really is mixing it with the traffic -its much safer to leave them in situ between the periods of work.

Wonder if op has ever been in a live road work section, it is real scary, you can see dozens of folk distracted on the phone ,eating mapreading etc… Firm I now work for had a bloke seriously injured by some drunken banned uninsured driver trying to overtake a vehicle in a coned off section of M92 almost killed the guy and his mate …he got 14 months, our guy got a wheelchair, firm will get a massive fine and prosecution. just chill… its like me mum said ‘better to be late in this world than early in the next’
BTW poor rant 4/10 NO CAPS, No F**** only 6 lines??

Has anybody ever been fined for going over the average speed limit?

I frequently drive around 55mph(according to sat-nav) all over the country and never had any fines through the letter box..I’m not sure they work and I often see people driving much faster than me when traffic is not that congested

Yes. Loads. But if you want to believe they’re all fakes, just carry on

As above, yes, plenty. A true 55mph is fairly safe though, hence why you’ve not had a letter – most of those steaming past you will have. Personally I tend to set the cruise for 50mph as it doesn’t really make a significant difference to journey times trying to go a little faster.

Has anybody ever been fined for going over the average speed limit?

yep

I find the fact that much of humanity doesn’t understand speed restrictions very disappointing, answers a lot of questions tbh.

In the unlikely event you should hit a workman(got to find one first)at 50mph chances are your going to kill them , at 70mph your pretty much guaranteeing the end result.

I believe it’s rare workmen get directly run over, but clip a cone at 70mph and that becomes a deadly projectile.

Probably still does at 50 but I guess you have to draw a line somewhere.

Back in the day (1980s) they diverted traffic off the M1 whilst they widened it from 2 lanes to 3. Weekends only I think but it was chaos and the number of accidents was ridiculous. Much better chilling in the cones at 50 on cruise control.

As someone who uses the motorway fairly regularly, I’d say the slower speed limits around roadworks really do help. People drive much better in these sections.

Apart from that the smart motorways (where variable speed limits imposed by the overhead signs are in place), are chuffing brilliant. The section around Leeds and Bradford that used to be stop start-up to 70, STOP, which was always chocked with accidents is now smooth and largely accident free. Brilliant! Every single motorway in the land should have these.

if only people would actually use the hard shoulder when the signs tell them to. /sigh

OK, just to give an example that seems to work on the continent, with reference to my example above where a mobile workforce is on the motorway.
My example was of a whole 10 mile stretch of dual carriageway that was coned off to allow a couple of workmen to pick litter. In similar circumstances in Germany, France and others, it is common to have a large “keep right” (OK keep-left over there) Arrow about the size of a house on the back of a large lorry. If you can’t see it from a mile away you really should not be driving! The workmen will then move forward, whether litter picking, inspecting barriers, cleaning signs etc, just ahead of this vehicle. Traffic has no choice but to filter past it and by the time they come back to the slow lane they are well past any workmen. If the workers stop for lunch the lorry pulls over and turns off his lights…. Got to be a cheaper and more convenient solution to mobile workforce??

I suspect the litter picking in the coned off area was taking advantage of the cones being there for another job. Litter picking/reservation mowing at the Ipswich end of A14 is carried out with the mobile works lorries in place. Occasionally some halfwit will hit the lorry though.

While people are answering motorway questions; I’ve often wondered what would happen if one of these middle lane speeders, you know, the ones who just go as fast as possible in the middle lane without ever over taking, they just speed from one blockage to another. What would happen if you gave them a 20 mile stretch of empty motorway. Would they ever settle at one speed? Or would they keep accelerating till the engine blew up?

bones76
Has anybody ever been fined for going over the average speed limit?

I frequently drive around 55mph(according to sat-nav) all over the country and never had any fines through the letter box..I’m not sure they work and I often see people driving much faster than me when traffic is not that congested

Guy in work believed they were all fake despite us all telling him they were real. He was on a night run one night and proudly declared he would ignore all the roadworks and be back earlier than anyone else could manage. He was indeed back a good hour earlier.

He had his smug grin wiped off him when he came in the next week for the transport manager to hand him 5 speeding tickets. Was handed a 28 day ban and was very lucky to keep his job.

if only people would actually use the hard shoulder when the signs tell them to. /sigh

Au contraire. There’s nothing more satisfying than sitting in new first lane with cruise control set to the indicated limit and shooting past hundreds of vehicles all doing 10-20mph less.

On the Saturday after Christmas I had to travel up the M6 to Kendal. Although very busy the traffic kept moving until I got to just passed Preston when all the traffic crawled for the next five miles adding approximately 35 minutes to my journey time. The reason, about 50 metres of bollards forcing all traffic into two lanes. The reason for the bollards a few short sections of crash barrier had been left on the central reservation. No excuses this should have been moved for the holiday period. On my return later that day the queue was still stretched back to Preston all because of these few bollards.

Have you seen how much it costs to hire one of those impact trucks? I can’t remember the figure but it was fairly big. I arranged for a lane closure for several hundred metres on a dual carriageway and Highways determined that we needed the impact truck, so the lane rental, basic signing and the truck came to an eye-watering figure!

Also they are not very good when hit by goods vehicles, apparently larger vehicles can ride up over the cushion and end up on the working area or against the cab and I’ve read of fatalities which is probably why you only see them setting out roadworks or in already coned off lanes.

wilburt – Member
I find the fact that much of humanity doesn’t understand speed restrictions very disappointing, answers a lot of questions tbh.

I’d like to hope that I didn’t portray that o didn’t understand the reason for the speed limit. It was more that it was there for such a long stretch.

the M60 has them and all the work is currently at night, it’d cost gazillions to put them out every night before work starts and take them in again in the morning so they are left in place all.

doesnt help when the local paper tells everyone that the cameras are not currently enforced so you get the special people blasting through them, i hope they start on the sly and catch them.

wouldnt cameras on all the junction sliproads make sense, it might be frustrating having an expensive fast car but at least you have more chance of a consistent journey time.

cones are left in place when barriers and other safety features are not complete not just workforce safety but also motorist,property and peds.this is why speed restrictions are not lifted at night when no workforce is around. this is what i was told when i asked the same question on a speed awareness course. 0h and i allways thought the optimum speed for maximum traffic flow with all cars at a safe stopping distance was 17mph. I have no idea how i know this so its probably b—-cks

My example was of a whole 10 mile stretch of dual carriageway that was coned off to allow a couple of workmen to pick litter. In similar circumstances in Germany, France and others, it is common to have a large “keep right” (OK keep-left over there) Arrow about the size of a house on the back of a large lorry. If you can’t see it from a mile away you really should not be driving!

Often see those on the M4, and I don’t use the M4 very often!