"New 30mph limit on the A40 Westway is dangerously slow" blog discussion

colmax · 27 February 2011 at 3:13PM

We had one of those smily face speed signs, but it has been switched off. I understand that it is because people were zoomiing past, seeing how fast they could get it to register. Kind of defeats the object really. lol

d.g.motoman · 27 February 2011 at 4:09PM

I also ride a motorcycle and try to stick to the limits, however when cars are tailgating you it seems you do not have much choice but to move over to the side of the road (dangerous - you are putting yourself at risk and advised against doing this in your CBT and further tests), slow down even further (when a truck is tailgating you I would strongly advise against doing this), stop on the side of the road and let traffic through (not always possible and regularly dangerous) or just speed up slightly to save your life and risk being caught by a discretionless money making camera. A painful issue. Does anyone have any further experience with this? Has anyone ever been pulled over in this situation?

Martin - thanks for such a great and relevant blog post.

Jayedee · 27 February 2011 at 4:21PM

I drove along the Westway into town and out again this morning, for the first time in a couple of weeks. There has been no advance warning of this that I've seen and I use this road most weekends, from the top of the West Cross Route to Marylebone Road. Going eastbound there is a temporary metal 30 sign and a warning for a ramp coming off the roundabout onto the Westway, nothing after that. Coming back out again there are just the 30 signs painted on the road - which I could understand on the 2 lane elevated section, but was surprised when they continued after the road widens out. Not that anyone was taking a blind bit of notice. As Richard J says, they've removed the 50 signs - presumably they haven't finished yet. I found it all very strange, hence me searching for news on this on the Internet and my finding my way to Martin's blog.

I will be very interested to see if anyone can find anything out about this. I can understand they may want to reduce the speed limit - but why 30? Why not 40 like other dual carriageways?

garbage456 · 27 February 2011 at 5:18PM

MsHoarder wrote: »

Martin, raising this in a way which sounds disrespectful to a law that exists to try to save lives is irresponsible given your profile.

I'm not familiar with the Westway , but from a map it looks a couple of miles long at most and has junctions.

i think its about 6 miles long, the junctions that join it are like slip roads from a motorway.

But 3 lanes become 2 as lane 1 becomes the exit slip, then the joining slip road then becomes lane 1 of a 3.
so no one joining the carriageway has to cross a lane.

Stephen_Leak · 27 February 2011 at 7:45PM

mattcanary wrote: »

A good driver drives appropriately to the conditions of the road and is aware of other roadusers. A bad driver slavishly looks at his/her speedo without taking on what is happening on the road.

I always drive to the road conditions. One of those is the prevailing speed limit. Right or wrong, they are the law. I've no points on my licence, the last accident I had was years ago (and he hit me) and I've averaged 52.11mpg since I got my little 1.4 diesel Fiesta in July last year.

Personally, I find 30mph is quite easy to keep to, if you keep to 3rd gear. 20mph = 2nd gear, 40mph = 4th gear. A little GPS-based unit, which verbally warns me when I stray over the limit is a useful aid as well.

In and around Bristol, I actually find that most other drivers are keeping to the limits. Some are "odd" (and probably the result of a cycling parish councillor or grieving parent), but most are at about the limit for the road. OK, I've been flashed (once for slowing down for a red traffic light!), but I just pull over and let them past. I prefer that kind of driver as far ahead of me as possible.

MSE_Martin · 27 February 2011 at 9:26PM

Did anyone else just watch them discussing exactly this on Top Gear!

type-r · 27 February 2011 at 10:15PM

MSE_Martin wrote: »

Did anyone else just watch them discussing exactly this on Top Gear!

Yup, I did. Interesting it is for some roadwords UNDERNEATH the A40.

I drove on the Westway today and virtually no-one was taking any notice of the reduced 30mph limit.

ifonlyitwaseasier · 27 February 2011 at 10:18PM

thanks for the heads up on this, we use the route most weekends and hadn't noticed the change when going along today.

tomsmith3000 · 27 February 2011 at 11:26PM

I saw this on Top Gear Martin and I hope that this speed restriction is temporary, as they suggested it might be.

I drove on it this morning for the first time on my way to Heathrow at about 5am and it's frankly just confusing for the motorist. I used to use this road to commute daily so I thought I knew where all the speed limits changed. I suddenly noticed the 50 signs blocked out and a white circle in the road with 30mph written. As far as I could see there's no prior warning and I felt like a moving chicane when I slowed down with people flashing their lights at me as if I was in the wrong.

Very poor communication and signage in my view. I'd expect at least big red circle 30mph signs especially as this is a new speed limit.