New road sign regs may cause chaos (1 Viewer)

[Jaws]

This cut and pasted from my man in traffic law:


New road sign regs could open up a whole can of worms
Some of you may be aware that from the 22nd of April, new powers came into force regarding the placing and usage of road signs.

Whilst some of the new rules are actualy quite sensible, there are one or two which I think are going to open up a whole can of worms, escpecially for example where it is no longer required to have repeater signs on restricted roads. I can see a lot of people being caught out by this one in particular.

It is going to be an interesting few couple of years ahead as decisions, convictions and accident liability cases are decided on the back of these new rules



https://www.gov.uk/government/news/councils-get-new-powers-to-tear-down-pointless-road-signs

 

[Wildbill]

I never bother with those pesky things so it won't make much difference to me
Bill

 

[DanielFord]

Whilst some of the new rules are actualy quite sensible, there are one or two which I think are going to open up a whole can of worms, escpecially for example where it is no longer required to have repeater signs on restricted roads. I can see a lot of people being caught out by this one in particular.

Yes, I've been watching this. I suspect it has more to do with the amount of speeding offences that fail due to inadequate signage. Typical of our governing bodies that rather than fix the problem, they change the rules!

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[gus-lopez]

Y Typical of our governing bodies that rather than fix the problem, they change the rules!

Same with everything.Just like they penalise the decent ,honest, law abiding citizen rather than come down on the criminal scum.

 

[Tootles]

Quite right as well. I waited nearly 20 mins, and all I saw were a few strawberries driving out.

 

[Larrynwin]

EU again John?

I always have a navigator switched on, a beep if I go 1mph over.
Have to be careful as some limits not up to date but a handy back up

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[Larby]

New road sign regs could open up a whole can of worms
Whilst some of the new rules are actualy quite sensible, there are one or two which I think are going to open up a whole can of worms, escpecially for example where it is no longer required to have repeater signs on restricted roads. I can see a lot of people being caught out by this one in particular.

So being a cynical old bugger I wouldn't be surprised that the repeater signs are removed, they'll have resources for that !
I rely on them sometimes when in say a 40mph limit but no signs, so if I'm not sure I drop to 30 much to the annoyance of those following

 

[Ivory55]

A tip is if going past a side road and it does not have a 30 sign up in it good chance your road is 30 too

 

[pappajohn]

And that is the educational standard of todays goverment desk jockeys......

The number of signs on our roads, more than doubled from 2.45 million in England in 1993 to an estimated 4.57 million in 2013.

When I was at school that figure would have been 4.9 million.....and more if it had more than doubled.

Or are we getting short changed again !

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[Tootles]

A tip is if going past a side road and it does not have a 30 sign up in it good chance your road is 30 too

Must remember that on the A1.

 

[GWAYGWAY]

A tip is if going past a side road and it does not have a 30 sign up in it good chance your road is 30 too

probably gone as well?

 

[GWAYGWAY]

At Canterbury on the Canterbury Bridge to A2 junction not far from the park and ride, there were 34 seperate sign on the road to Bridge bit, They came along a removed them except GIVE WAY , they were causing confusion. However they have nearly all crept back into place and it is as bad as before. It was the most signed bit of road in the Country at one time.

They are coming back to haunt you but only half as many the cycle route is missing, only 22 at the moment

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[GJH]

I expect the repeater change probably has more to do with the sort of situation we had here when 20 mph limits were brought in on almost all estate roads as a (successful) safety measure. The expense of repeater signs was required on longer roads to make the restrictions legal. Then street lights were replaced and the contractors simply binned any repeater signs on them rather than transferring them to the new lighting columns, meaning the council had to go to the expense of chasing them to replace them.
The "new road layout ahead" type signs that stay for years obviously need taking away.

 

[Ivory55]

A problem I find with road signs is the hedges are over grown and covering them or partially covering them so not getting a clear view of them till right on top of them. Which is sometimes to late.

 

[buttons]

I guess we will be using and relying our on-board speed display more. They are pretty accurate and can be relied on now.

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[Theonlysue]

Nothing to do with being an eyesore or looking ugly.
It's information overload. You have limited time whilst driving to observe signs, and sometimes you don't know where to start lol

 

[robnchris]

We have been taking notice of roads signs for a while now and without a doubt some of their placings are ridiculous to say the least, how many times do you see speed restriction signs less than 50 yards apart.
There are quite a few areas close to our home were you are driving in a 30mph zone then as you come out of it into a 40mph zone you have two signs within 50 yards one saying 30mph then another showing the new 40mph.

Local councils gone mad.

 

[GJH]

We have been taking notice of roads signs for a while now and without a doubt some of their placings are ridiculous to say the least, how many times do you see speed restriction signs less than 50 yards apart.
There are quite a few areas close to our home were you are driving in a 30mph zone then as you come out of it into a 40mph zone you have two signs within 50 yards one saying 30mph then another showing the new 40mph.

Local councils gone mad.

It isn't the local councils Rob. They have to place the signs like that to comply with the legislation, hence the sense in replacing that legislation. I can recall discussing signage for the Guisborough overnight facility with the traffic engineer and the legislation surrounding it was the bane of his life. Simplification will be good for us all.

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[buttons]

At Canterbury on the Canterbury Bridge to A2 junction not far from the park and ride, there were 34 seperate sign on the road to Bridge bit, They came along a removed them except GIVE WAY , they were causing confusion. However they have nearly all crept back into place and it is as bad as before. It was the most signed bit of road in the Country at one time.View attachment 103241
They are coming back to haunt you but only half as many the cycle route is missing, only 22 at the moment

You think this is bad....you should try approaching a similar junction in Wales.....

 

[appydaze]

A problem I find with road signs is the hedges are over grown and covering them or partially covering them so not getting a clear view of them till right on top of them. Which is sometimes to late.

Yes I agree..... and by the way , how much are all these hedges and trees costing us.....

 

[Ivory55]

I bet they are planted with an eu grant . I know there are laws to do with eu or government when they can and can not cut hedges, which is ok in France as the roadside verge is a lot wider so the hedge is further back.

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[tonyidle]

You think this is bad....you should try approaching a similar junction in Wales.....

I know - there many people in Wales with a speech defect so now the bl**dy signs have to accommodate them

 

[GWAYGWAY]

You think this is bad....you should try approaching a similar junction in Wales.....

Only because they need to be told twice , have you noticed in North it is Welsh first the English in the south English first then Welsh, probably because they do not speak it in the south bit.

 

[buttons]

Lets do away with Welsh on road signs, this would reduce confusio

Only because they need to be told twice , have you noticed in North it is Welsh first the English in the south English first then Welsh, probably because they do not speak it in the south bit.

No I hadn't noticed that GG but it doesn't surprise me.

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[gus-lopez]

A problem I find with road signs is the hedges are over grown and covering them or partially covering them so not getting a clear view of them till right on top of them. Which is sometimes to late.

But they always manage to cut the bit in front of the camera !

 

[GJH]

A problem I find with road signs is the hedges are over grown and covering them or partially covering them so not getting a clear view of them till right on top of them. Which is sometimes to late.

If any members have such overgrown hedges near where they live it may be worth finding out who owns them and then reporting them to the council so that they can take enforcement action as monitoring all the miles of roads can be an endless task, especially in rural areas. Northumberland County Council started something similar for reporting of potholes a year or two ago so there is a precedent.