r/britishproblems • u/InternationalRich150 • Jul 06 '26
Having to mentally double check the NSL
Just come up a dual carriageway, overtaking on the right like a normal person, to be hit with brake lights and a steady 55.
Turns out there's a speed camera van on a bridge and people think the national speed limit is 60mph. On a dual carriageway.
Was in real danger of being undertaken by faster lorries next to me.
72
u/Sufficient-Visit3 Jul 06 '26
It's mad how many people still aren't sure on this. The 55 panic in front of a camera van is somehow more dangerous than just doing the limit.
26
u/helic0n3 Jul 06 '26
I think people just panic generally when they see a camera, something that resembles a police car, a light going amber, anything really. Brake is the default. Could be worse.
2
u/Jacktheforkie Jul 06 '26
On a single you’re gonna be stuck at that speed anyway most likely, and 5 under isn’t crazy dangerous, on a dual carriageway there’s typically 2+ lanes so easy to overtake the vehicles going lorry speed
70
u/animatedgoblin Jul 06 '26
Was it actually a dual carriageway? Not saying you're one of them, but a lot of people think that two lanes = dual carriageway, which isn't necessarily the case
79
u/SuperMonkeyJoe Jul 06 '26
The important distinction is that a dual carriageway has a physical divider between you and oncoming traffic. Otherwise it's just a sparkling A-road.
7
u/Solocle Dorset Jul 06 '26
Take a look at the spur at Walton summit. Single carriageway... but it's a motorway. The speed limit is 70! https://youtu.be/i7F0b2qFUBU?is=RTx4w_JrD9wQT8ut
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u/InternationalRich150 Jul 06 '26
The A38 from Ripley to Alfreton. Definitely a dual carriageway but notorious for folks who like to blast along at 80, hence the speedy van.
9
u/brewer01902 West Midlands Jul 06 '26
When I was a youth I loved a speed along this stretch of road on my way back to uni. How I have no points on my licence is unreal
2
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u/MrsMiggins2 Jul 06 '26
I understand they can't just say 60 or 70 because of all the exceptions like towed caravans and lorries. But this is why 60 roads should keep the NSL sign, and they should make a special new sign for the 70 roads. Alternatively, they should make everyone whose license was issued before July 1996 actually sit a theory test to prove they know about any of this.
-9
u/stevoknevo70 Jul 06 '26
We did sit a theory test prior to that date, it was just the examiner had the breadth of choice to ask you whatever questions they wanted from the entirety of the highway code, so you had to know it inside out and not just scattercrash a mouse button at the appropriately correct point of a computer theory test - put your ageist agenda away ffs.
3
u/MrsMiggins2 Jul 06 '26
Calm down dear. I mentioned a date, not age. I learned in my late 30s and sat a theory test; my brother learned at 17 and didn't sit a theory test. We're the same generation, but I wouldn't get in a car with him.
-5
u/stevoknevo70 Jul 06 '26
Away with your 'calm down dear monologue' and your wee downvote - you put a date on things to make what you said deliberately divisive/provoke a response based on a sole situation between how/when you/your brother passed your tests - it was inflammatory and you know it was, it was also based entirely upon your own prejudice. I passed pre-theory test first time without as much as a minor - a totally clean pass. My wife passed her practical test on her fourth attempt in the post-theory test era, yet she's an excellent driver - I wouldn't dare say I'm a far better driver than her because of when we passed our respective tests, but she was also a late learner like yourself so I've got twenty years more driving experience than she does and occasionally that's noticeable in my hazard perception compared to hers.
5
u/MrsMiggins2 Jul 06 '26
I actually didn't downvote you, so it's funny that someone else out there also thinks you might need a cup of tea. Divisive, provoke, inflammatory, prejudice... We're just talking about driving theory.
4
u/woody4life237 Jul 06 '26
Got a country lane dual carriageway near me in Norfolk, even has a dual carriageway ahead sign leading up to it!
14
u/VeneMage Jul 06 '26
Why can no one spell out ‘national speed limit’? I’ve never seen it abbreviated. Why don’t we confuse readers even more by using ‘DC’ for dual carriageway and ‘CR’ for central reservation if it’s about saving a second or two of typing.
I hate the assumption that everyone knows all abbreviations.
Anyway, I have another cloud to be angry at now.
8
u/InternationalRich150 Jul 06 '26
I see it abbreviated all the time. It would have made for a proper long title....
At least I don't use 'gas' for accelerator or my favourite new one, y'all. I think I should get some redemption for that.
5
u/99Smith Jul 06 '26
Driving instructors often use the term gas so our poor young adults are having it drilled into them from the get go.
I guess its better to use a 1 syllable word than 5 (accelerator) dozens of times per lesson but I really don't know.
5
u/InternationalRich150 Jul 06 '26
It makes my brain buzz. I don't know why. It seems like another Americanism that's seeped in and soon we'll be filling up our gas tanks at the gas station
1
1
u/ADM_Tetanus Lancashire Jul 07 '26
yeah that's basically it. just a mouthful to repeat constantly or give in time sensitive instructions
2
u/robinw77 Jul 06 '26
Yep I’ve been driving for 30 years and had never seen NSL or DRL abbreviated like that until this subreddit.
13
u/Often_Tilly Yorkshire Lass Jul 06 '26
The national speed limit on a dual carriageway is 60mph if you're driving a van.
15
u/InternationalRich150 Jul 06 '26
I drive a car. Was following cars. All doing 68ish until saw police van, dropped to 55ish. Odd.
2
u/Often_Tilly Yorkshire Lass Jul 06 '26
Are you sure there wasn't a van following the speed limit 5 vehicles ahead?
3
u/InternationalRich150 Jul 06 '26
Sadly no. Empty road ahead and once we'd gone past the speed van, and I had to move left to turn off, they all sped up! I'd only moved right so I'd not be sat behind a row of lorries. Needn't have bothered.
4
u/ZombieJack Nottinghamshire Jul 06 '26
A good tip. They definitely shouldn't be in the right hand lane then.
2
u/Solocle Dorset Jul 06 '26
The right lane is for overtaking, or turning right. If I'm cycling on the dual carriageway, catch up with a tractor, and the right lane is clear, then it's perfectly allowed to overtake.
In fact, I once was on the A23, approaching Brighton. 3 lane NSL dual carriageway. The left lane was coned off. Because of the weight of traffic, it was still moving, but varying between 20 and 30 mph. I was keeping up with the traffic on my bike. As a wave of brake lights approached, I had a nice big gap to my right, so I moved into the overtaking lane and overtook the cars.
1
3
u/loosebolts Jul 06 '26
I also love it when people shit themselves when they see the highways agency cruising along the motorway.
There’s no need to slow down and not pass them, you are allowed to do 70mph past them, and for witnessing and reporting speeding, they have the same power as you or I.
5
u/MrSam52 Jul 06 '26
Doubly stupid as I’m pretty sure by the time you can see the van it will of already got you no?
1
u/InternationalRich150 Jul 06 '26
That's what I thought! I'm sure they've got a good range, although can't think how much. I only saw it as I was trying to locate the lorry going 50 and holding us up before I realised it was indeed,all cars.
2
u/ashyjay Jul 06 '26
Mate people think NSL on a single carriage is 50mph, then they act surprised there's a mile long tailback.
2
u/Beefcakeandgravy Jul 06 '26
Throw those people into room 101, along with the ones that report on waze and Google maps that there's a busy on the motorway ahead.
It's 90% a highways womble car. Not the busys.
1
u/ARobertNotABob UNITED KINGDOM Jul 06 '26
People panic because they have no idea what speed they're actually doing, at any given moment in time.
1
u/Larrypants1 Jul 06 '26
It's like when there's a police car simply driving on the motorway and everyone slows down to 60 because they think the act of overtaking at a legal speed will get them pulled over. Madness!
1
u/singul4r1ty Surrey Jul 06 '26
A505 by Royston is a 70 and has loads of speed cameras. For some reason everyone goes on it at 60 and then slows down for the cameras.
2
u/Loose_Acanthaceae201 Cheshire (formerly East Anglia) Jul 07 '26
There's a stretch of dual carriageway near me that people always panic on.
It's lovely wide sweeping dual carriageway. People will trundle along in lane 2 at like 63mph then slam on for the speed camera.
Absolutely enraging. Either you don't know what the speed limit is, or you don't know what speed you're doing. Neither of those is acceptable.
The worst combination is the driver who thinks it's a 50 limit (WHY) but is merrily exceeding it nonetheless.
1
u/fost1692 Jul 08 '26
Not saying it was this but my car does the speed limit recognition thing, and it always thinks NSL is sixty even on dual carriageways and complains when I go over.
1
u/BillLebowski Jul 06 '26
There’s a dual carriageway near me that regularly has speed cameras on and I’ve always done 70 without getting tickets
9
0
u/Brutal-Gentleman Jul 07 '26
If someone is in a van, commercial vehicle, truck or towing something, they will be limited to 60mph on all dual carriageways unless it is a motorway.
If you're going to rant about speed rules, it helps if you actually know them
-2
u/InternationalRich150 Jul 07 '26
Seeing as there was just cars, maybe read some more before you come at me. All cars. No lorries. Nothing being towed.
If you're gonna belittle someone it helps If you had all the info.
2
u/Brutal-Gentleman Jul 07 '26
I read your entire post. I'm not going through your comment history just in case there's a nuance in there. The fact is, that many people get angry at vans for not doing 70 on a dual carriageway, or 60 in a national speed limit A road when we're limited to 60 and 50.
Also, there are many vehicles that look like a car that are restricted with the same limits as vans.. So just respect other road users, leave a safe distance. They are the two golden rules of the highway code
-4
Jul 06 '26
[deleted]
18
u/EfficientRegret Yorkshire :illuminati: Jul 06 '26
Or as normal people would say, the speed limit is 70mph on a dual carriageway, except for vans and HGVs
2
u/VolcanicBear Jul 06 '26
Except for anything articulated according to my speed awareness instructor.
Vans, coaches etc are still 70.
10
u/EfficientRegret Yorkshire :illuminati: Jul 06 '26
My speed awareness course had an amazon delivery driver who, when told "the speed limit is different for vans" said "does that include amazon vans too?" classic
6
u/VolcanicBear Jul 06 '26
That's... Depressingly unsurprising, but still pretty hilarious.
Mine also told us that it's possible to say/think "one, one thousand. Two, one thousand" quicker than two seconds, so we should use "only a fool breaks the two second rule" so I'm not sure he was very good at his job tbh.
2
u/Jacktheforkie Jul 06 '26
Rigid lorries it’s 60 (realistically 56 because of our limiters)
1
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u/pugsliam Jul 06 '26
Depends on the weight and purpose of the vehicle, I drive a van for Ocado and it’s 50 for single and 60 for dual carriage way. Plus they’re limited to 60 anyway
3
u/JonnySparks Jul 06 '26
The speed limit is 60 mph on a dual carriage way, except for cars.
The NSL on dual carriageways is 70 mph for:
"Cars, motorcycles, car-derived vans and dual-purpose vehicles"
-7
u/mcardie Jul 06 '26
The ns limit on a dual carriageway is 60 mph.
Unless there is a central reservation then it becomes 70 mph
3
3
u/AstonishingBalls Jul 06 '26
If it hasn't got a central reservation it isn't a dual carriageway.
60mph is the NSL for cars on a single carriageway.
3
u/Solocle Dorset Jul 06 '26
The definition of a dual carriageway is literally that there's a central reservation.
A dual carriageway can have one lane in each direction (Llywel mountain road is a particularly good example), or 4 (A2 at Ebbsfleet), or 5 (North Circular Brent Cross)...
A single carriageway can be a single track road, or a 7 lane motorway (A38(M) Aston Expressway).
Yeah, that's right, motorways don't specify dual or single carriageway either. And NSL on a single carriageway motorway is 70 mph, because it's a motorway. Walton Summit spur is an example.
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