Roland Perry wrote:
In message .com, at
14:07:31 on Sun, 27 Nov 2005, umpston remarked:
The difficulty is the definition of the term "street lighting": it means
that the lights are closer together than some cut-off distance (can't be
arsed to check the distance: my HC is in the car). As you are driving past
them, try judging whether the lights are closer than this distance (and so
the limit is 30 mph) or whether they are just further apart than this
distance (and hence the limit is 60). On a major road with more than one
lane you can easily think that 60/70 would be appropriate (or at least that
it's safe to drive at 40 or 50), even though there are houses some distance
away from the road, separated by service roads on either side.

If you are a on a road of that kind with a speed limit other than 30mph
there will be repeater signs at intervals (can't be bothered to look up
the guidance on the interval distance).

Not if the interval at which you repeaters have to be installed is less
than the length of lit road!


One of the things I've always wondered about is how these various
"lengths" are defined. For example, if a road has such a length of
lighting up to a lit roundabout over a more major road, and then another
short stretch of lit road the other side. Is that three sections of road
each of which has to meet the limits, or just one?


There should be full size signs (not repeaters) at the point the
speed-limit changes.
Speed limits other than the national speed limit or the urban 30mph
require a Traffic Order which will include a definition (in words
and/or on a map) of the affected length of road. Therefore the
'street-lighting rule' does not apply if a traffic order is in place
including that length of road. The order is invalid if the signs were
never there or if the authority has not made a reasonable effort to
maintain them.