Watch Your Speed!
As a heads up to new caravanners, and others too. From a letter in the latest C&CC magazine concerning the speed limit while towing where the writer picked up a speeding fine. On 2 way roads when towing the speed limit is 50 mph not 60 mph. It's all too easy after coming off a motorway or dual carriage way, where the max towing speed is 60mph, to stick at that speed. Check out https://www.gov.uk/speed-limits for further information.
Comments
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I'm also sure that VERY few (non-caravaner) motorists are aware of the 50mph limit. You can almost sense them thinking 'why is he doing precisely 50 on this lovely clear straight road'.
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So you can admire my stickers on the rear of my van? The likelyhood is they came off the dual on cruise control, on to a single and then hit the go button - plank.
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I wouldn't mind betting there arer a fair number of solo motorists who don't realise that the limit on non-dual carriageways is 60 and not the national speed limit.
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I wouldn't mind betting there arer a fair number of solo motorists who don't realise that the limit on non-dual carriageways is 60 and not the national speed limit.
..... or that on dual carriageways it is the national speed limit.
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I wouldn't mind betting there arer a fair number of solo motorists who don't realise that the limit on non-dual carriageways is 60 and not the national speed limit.
60 is the national speed limit on single carriageway roads or 50 when towing.
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Everytime I go down the dual carriageway on the Lincoln by pass - the number of people who hit the brakes when they see the speed camera is staggering - despite the de-restriction sign just before the camera! One day there will be an accident as someone
hits the brakes when doing 70 mph suddenly down to 60 mph. I am not talking about people towing although I agree that a lot of motorists don't realise we aren't supposed to tow more than 50 mph on all roads except Dual and Mways!0 -
I wouldn't mind betting there arer a fair number of solo motorists who don't realise that the limit on non-dual carriageways is 60 and not the national speed limit.
..... or that on dual carriageways it is the national speed limit.
...Unless otherwise indicated
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mobile speed cameras cannot detect if a vehicle is towing or not....they are simply set to the enforcement speed limit (usually 10% + 3 MPH) for the majority of road users i.e. cars
Are we confident of that? If so we can tow at just up to 58 mph, or even 69 if it really can't detect towing, on single carriageways then, provided we trust our speedo or sat nav.
Whilst knowing the speed limit I feel towing at 50 mph on a lovely free flowing "A" road, one with double lines, is more dangerous and decidely more hassle generating than moving with the flow up to 55 mph.
Should your assertion be true it seems it could be "safe" from prosecution as well.
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It may be more hassle generating but I didn't make the rules. The law says it is 50 mph. so 50 mph it is, or less of course depending on conditions.
I have no argument and as said know the law but IMO us generating higher levels of hassle on free flowing “A” roads that don't offer safe overtaking creates a lot more danger to road users that it does raising the towing speed from 50 to 55 mph. It is not that my unit can't safely tow at 60 mph where allowed by law, and the van is designed for 62.5 mph use, therefore going at 55 is no technical issue.
Just it is my opinion the law that forces us to cause log jams generates more real dangers that it mitigates. Like you I toe the line but that does not stop me thinking this is stupid.
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What you say does have merit, certainly a slower moving caravan can cause people in cars to take risks getting past. However, a lot of 50 mph roads have numerous junctions and other hazards. Slowing a car with 1.5 tonnes of caravan takes a significant distance. So speeding up the blockage could just create other risks. I raise these, just as points for debate. I would hope, though doubt, such factors are taken into consideration when speed limits for specific vehicles are considered.
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I know it's 50. How? My brother was doing 55 whilst towing and caught by a RoSPA camera in van man on the fast and wide road between Oswestry and Shrewsbury. Only time he's ever been penalised so I get to hear the moan on a regular basis.
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mobile speed cameras cannot detect if a vehicle is towing or not....they are simply set to the enforcement speed limit (usually 10% + 3 MPH) for the majority of road users i.e. cars
Sorry to split hairs but actually I am pretty sure the "enforcement" limit is 10% plus 2mph.
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mobile speed cameras cannot detect if a vehicle is towing or not....they are simply set to the enforcement speed limit (usually 10% + 3 MPH) for the majority of road users i.e. cars
That's strange as the chap who reported this was caught by a moblie speed camera!!
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Guidelines are not the same as the law: if the speed limit is broken then its your own fault. Why hope that your police force is one that goes by the 10% etc "rule" just stay within the correct limit. Saying that we are a guilty as the next person at times:
my OH decided to step on it in the way home tonight down the M4 93 mph - solo not towing - before he decided to behave.0 -
Acpo guidelines are indeed for 10% +2 but the majority of forces adhere to the +3 guideline. And the camera cannot distinguish if towing....sorry. ....
Thanks,are you also aware of what the French ones do, as I note some of these feature "lorry & car" logos on the warning signs , some just a car? Can the former differentiate?
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We've recently changed OH's car so I checked the speedo against the satnav along a straight open stretch of level road relatively close to sea level and at varying speeds. Whilst her old car under-read by about 5%, her latest one is almost spot-on according
to the sat-nav. Make sure you do your sums right if you want to be close to the margins.
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Both ours under read so when you are showing 30 you are doing 28. Therefore at 10% + 2 it would be showing about 38. The divisions on both our speedos are quite large, so you would have no excuse whatsoever. My big gripe is the siting of speed signs. I prefer to comply with the law, but when they site changes just as you come off roundabouts it is easy to miss them, as you are looking out for traffic feeding in etc. Unfortunately that is no excuse, so a few times I have annoyed others, because I was not sure the speed limit had increased. But then it is a limit, not a target, which quite a few seem to forget.
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Both ours under read so when you are showing 30 you are doing 28. Therefore at 10% + 2 it would be showing about 38. The divisions on both our speedos are quite large, so you would have no excuse whatsoever. My big gripe is the siting of speed signs. I
prefer to comply with the law, but when they site changes just as you come off roundabouts it is easy to miss them, as you are looking out for traffic feeding in etc. Unfortunately that is no excuse, so a few times I have annoyed others, because I was not
sure the speed limit had increased. But then it is a limit, not a target, which quite a few seem to forget.Write your comments here...That's right, Steve. There is no law against doing less than the speed limit unless there's a minimum speed sign and I've not seen any of those in my travels!
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Everytime I go down the dual carriageway on the Lincoln by pass - the number of people who hit the brakes when they see the speed camera is staggering - despite the de-restriction sign just before the camera! One day there will be an accident as someone
hits the brakes when doing 70 mph suddenly down to 60 mph. I am not talking about people towing although I agree that a lot of motorists don't realise we aren't supposed to tow more than 50 mph on all roads except Dual and Mways!pippa, same on the A303 west at Wylye....nice long dual carriageway, most doing 65-70 (not towing) then, as road reverts to single carriageway at top of incline, a speed camera....limit 60mph...
so.....why are cars (who have slowed to 60 or less after cresting the rise and are under the limit) suddenly anchoring on fiercely at the sight of a camera.....some slowing to less than 40......?
and we wonder why we get accidents and tailbacks with the speed changing so often...
a few years ago, i used to travel regularly to the other side of a town around 13 miles away.....
there was not one section of road that was set to the national speed limit (many years ago it would all have been at that level)......now, 30, 40, 30, 40, 50, 40 etc, etc.....there were 13 changes of speed (each way) on a half hour trip.....
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...... There is no law against doing less than the speed limit unless there's a minimum speed sign and I've not seen any of those in my travels!
I wonder how far you'd get on the M6 at 25mph before you were stopped ......
Write your comments here...Well within reason of course! You could probably get away with 40 mph as long as you stuck to the inside lane! If there was thick fog and ice, you would most likely have to do 25 mph.
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Do correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm not aware on a minimum speed limit in the UK. However, if by driving slowly one is causing an obstruction or creating danger, I'm sure the police would find a way of reprimanding. I understand that minimum speed limits
apply on German autobahns?David
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...... There is no law against doing less than the speed limit unless there's a minimum speed sign and I've not seen any of those in my travels!
I wonder how far you'd get on the M6 at 25mph before you were stopped ......
Write your comments here... Molly how are you getting on with your Merc ?.
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