Road works speed limits

[Sabantien]

Every day to and from work I drive through quite a long 40 zone (Kingsford Smith Drive for those playing along in Brisbane).

Most people do well above 40 driving through there. I've even seen someone doing over 80 (there are those radars that tell you your speed), and it's normally a 60 zone. (Honestly, if they wanted to revenue raise, perfect spot for it)

Problem is, I have NEVER seen any work being down on the side of the road. I once saw a group of suits in hard hats having a meeting, but that's about it.

I'll admit there could be something happening that I don't see, but how many times do we go through reduced speed limits where there is no one in sight?

Surely if they can whack up radar guns with a digital speed display, they could have variable limit signage for when there's no work going on. I think people going through roadwork after roadwork with nothing happening is why people don't bother to slow down at all for any road work.

I know on the highway sometimes they've physically reduced the width of the lane, but even that could have a sign letting people know what's going on.

[devilcv8]

Just because no work is happening doesn't mean that the safety of the area is not impacted and therefore the lower speed limit is still required.
Sounds like Qld police need to do some enforcement along that stretch of road.

[Rallye Sport]

It peeves me too when the limit is left up after hours or on the weekend...
However if the road conditions are changed, unfinished works, narrowed lanes, no emergency lane etc there is still risk and I accept that. I make a point of slowing down around works, an instructor once told me it only takes one person to slow down and the rest must follow, that and it could be me or one of my boys working out there.

[commodorenutt]

Very true - often the reduced limit is not to protect the workers (there may not be any exposed to traffic - they may well be behind a concrete Jersey barrier a long way away) but there are laws governing the maximum speed limit against the width of the lane - narrow lanes require lower speed limits.

I doubt many people would even realise the minimum lane width for 110km/h is much, much wider than that for an 80 zone, which again is much wider than those in 50km/h residential areas. The classification of the road also has a bearing on the lane width & speed limit.

So even if they aren't working, if the lanes are narrowed (which is common in a work zone) then the limit has to apply, 24/7.

Ignorant people don't understand that, and a number of my mates in HWP say they regularly get the excuse "but nobody is working, so I can do the normal speed right?"

[Lunch]

Try driving in SA, their roadworks speed limit is 15kph, hard to swallow when you've slowed from 110kph on the highway for 5 kms for a guy in a tractor mowing grass 5 mtrs off the road..

[Express]

I'll add all these recent comments:


http://www.fordforums.com.au/showthr...ight=roadworks

[Sabantien]

Originally Posted by Express

I'll add all these recent comments:


http://www.fordforums.com.au/showthr...ight=roadworks

Haha, oops! Didn't see that thread (or forgot about it if I did).

[Tom Tucker]

Originally Posted by Sabantien

Every day to and from work I drive through quite a long 40 zone (Kingsford Smith Drive for those playing along in Brisbane).

Most people do well above 40 driving through there. I've even seen someone doing over 80 (there are those radars that tell you your speed), and it's normally a 60 zone. (Honestly, if they wanted to revenue raise, perfect spot for it)

Problem is, I have NEVER seen any work being down on the side of the road. I once saw a group of suits in hard hats having a meeting, but that's about it.

I'll admit there could be something happening that I don't see, but how many times do we go through reduced speed limits where there is no one in sight?

Surely if they can whack up radar guns with a digital speed display, they could have variable limit signage for when there's no work going on. I think people going through roadwork after roadwork with nothing happening is why people don't bother to slow down at all for any road work.

I know on the highway sometimes they've physically reduced the width of the lane, but even that could have a sign letting people know what's going on.

Classic QLD roadworks.

I'm just surprised old mate doing 80km/h escaped with his life, and that he didn't leave a trail of death and destruction like the road safety zealots and most members of this forum would have you believe...

[b0son]

Originally Posted by Lunch

Try driving in SA, their roadworks speed limit is 15kph

That's nothing. From next year, when the workers leave the depot to start work for the day, they will be accompanied by a ticker-tape parade.

[Gothefalcon]

Originally Posted by Lunch

Try driving in SA, their roadworks speed limit is 15kph

No it's not.... it's 25kph. Warranted in some situations... but overused in most where 40kph etc would be sufficient.

D

[Lunch]

Originally Posted by Gothefalcon

No it's not.... it's 25kph.

D

My bad, 25kph..
Warranted on 'road worker bring your kid to work and let them play on the road day'

[Ben73]

I don't mind roadwork speeds when people are working or the lanes have been affected, but I hate it when nothing is happening, the road isn't affected or the workers are well at well clear of the road traffic.

When they were building a third railway line at Whittingham, which took several months, they dropped the road speed limit from 100 to 60, or 80 depending on the time of day. The railway line was about 40m from the edge of the highway and was fenced off.
The other existing rail lines were about 5-10 metres from the works, but the speed limit on the railway wasn't reduced at all. The speed board still showed 160Km/h.

During the railway build a ballast truck rolled and lost it's load on the live railway line as a coal train was approaching at 80km/h. Luckily it was a slow coal train which applied the emergency brake as it pushed through and showered the workers with ballast. Yet road traffic which were much further away and can stop on a dime (compared to a train) were restricted to 60km/h for no apparent reason.
After that incident of the rolling ballast truck, restrictions were put on the track workers to make sure no workers affected the live railway line. Train speed restriction were not introduced.
I couldn't get my head around how the road speed limit was so low compared to the railway speed, until I saw highway patrol sitting there every night catching drivers every few minute while all the vulnerable track workers were tucking into beer number 8 at the local pub.

[P5Graeme]

Approaching road works over here you may be limited from 80 down to 60 and down to 40 before having a flag person. That's fine for worker safety, however on driving through the road works you will see stationary utes, loaders, rollers, graders, water trucks etc with their obligatory flashing orange beacon going. Chances are there will be up to a dozen workers standing around with their hi vis vests and hard hats but I'm buggered if I ever see more than one person who is actually working! The rest seem to be talking to each other or checking out their Facebook page on their iPhones. I'd be the first to respect the speed limits if there was some actual work happening but the productivity must be next to nil. No wonder this country is going down the gurgler!

[Trump]

Common sense should dictate how road works speed limits are applied:

- if people are working, drive at a speed that doesn't endanger their lives.
- if no one is onsite (along with their equipment), revert back to the posted speed limit.

[STEALTHY]

Originally Posted by Trump

Common sense should dictate how road works speed limits are applied:

- if people are working, drive at a speed that doesn't endanger their lives.
- if no one is onsite (along with their equipment), revert back to the posted speed limit.

The lower speed limit doesn't meant 'people are working'. It means conditions have changed.

Theres a stretch near me that the lower speed is warranted (cones barely 30cm either side of your car) and morons constantly overtake me on the wrong side of the cones, just to do 80.

One time a guy flew past me, only to get stopped up the road at the traffic lights for the one way section. Old mate didn't take off instantly when it went green, so i went past him (over broken lines and not above the 40k llimit). The look on his face in the mirror was gold.

Every day, people fly past, only to be stopped at the same traffic lights as me (and you always get through the first sequence.

I just dont have the money to waste and the risk on my license for doing 40ks over. I dont understand how others can!

[bundera]

We had 53kms of road works where the speed limit was dropped from 110kph to 80kph for a couple of months for them to do shoulder work on the highway. The Mayor kicked up a stink over it because they were meant to do a bit at a time and not the full stretch all at once.
In the end the cops turned a blind eye to people exceeding the 80 and travelling at 110 when they were not working, especially for the trucks as it was in the middle of grape harvest.
Common sense prevailed for once!

[b0son]

Originally Posted by STEALTHY

The lower speed limit doesn't meant 'people are working'. It means conditions have changed.

Those conditions should preclude travelling at the posted limit. They seldom do.

[Rallye Sport]

Originally Posted by P5Graeme

Approaching road works over here you may be limited from 80 down to 60 and down to 40 before having a flag person. That's fine for worker safety, however on driving through the road works you will see stationary utes, loaders, rollers, graders, water trucks etc with their obligatory flashing orange beacon going. Chances are there will be up to a dozen workers standing around with their hi vis vests and hard hats but I'm buggered if I ever see more than one person who is actually working! The rest seem to be talking to each other or checking out their Facebook page on their iPhones. I'd be the first to respect the speed limits if there was some actual work happening but the productivity must be next to nil. No wonder this country is going down the gurgler!

...and Johnny punch clock doesn't stand around the water cooler trying to tune the hottie from accounts?
Problem is these guys are in the public eye and the first reaction is that they're doing sweet fa. Could they be doing a take five/ jsa? toolbox? waiting for instruction or specs? fueling, it only takes one person to fuel a machine... ticketed operators also have designated jobs... the guy with the concrete saw might look like he's just standing there, or is he waiting for you to go past so as not to shower your car with debris? Saying 'Gday hows you weekend' to a workmate is good culture, essential in a team environment.
My favourite is when the boys are having smoko, some numb nuts will always yell 'do some work' from the safety of their car. They're entitled to a break and having it onsite rather than back at the crib room saves time.
On a positive note one of the best lolly pop men I have ever dealt with would wave and thank every car that came past, after a week or so the motorists attitudes changed markedly, he'd put a human side to being stuck in roadworks.

[Ben73]

Originally Posted by STEALTHY

The lower speed limit doesn't meant 'people are working'. It means conditions have changed.

True, but surely you have seen it when there are roadwork signs up and everything is exactly as it always is under normal circumstances?


I have also noticed that on highways the speed restriction usually starts about 1km before you reach the actual works. Most people seam to do 100 until the 60 sign then they begin to slow. I guess they just expect nothing to be happening for a kilometre or so based off past experience. Makes you wonder if they started putting the road work speed restriction 100-200m before the work maybe people would actually start to slow when they see the 'Roadwork 60km/h ahead' sign and actually be doing the limit when they pass the official 60 sign.
But that will never happen because HP won't like that.

[ronwest]

Originally Posted by Ben73

True, but surely you have seen it when there are roadwork signs up and everything is exactly as it always is under normal circumstances?

A couple of our kids were living /working in Mount Isa so we'd drive up there maybe 4 times per year for 4 years (missed the grandkids...)

Just past McKinlay (famous for the Croc Dundee Walkabout Pub) there was a roadworks 50kph sign heading northbound (nothing southbound) for about two years.

In the time I was driving up there I never saw anything happening or anything different.

I often wondered how many law abiding citizens sat on 50kph until the next 110 sign which is forever up the road.

However, it's not unusual for restricted speed signs to be left behind when roadworks are done (at least it's not unusual out west). Just about everybody slows down when they actually see activity.

[STEALTHY]

Originally Posted by Ben73

True, but surely you have seen it when there are roadwork signs up and everything is exactly as it always is under normal circumstances?


I have also noticed that on highways the speed restriction usually starts about 1km before you reach the actual works. Most people seam to do 100 until the 60 sign then they begin to slow. I guess they just expect nothing to be happening for a kilometre or so based off past experience. Makes you wonder if they started putting the road work speed restriction 100-200m before the work maybe people would actually start to slow when they see the 'Roadwork 60km/h ahead' sign and actually be doing the limit when they pass the official 60 sign.
But that will never happen because HP won't like that.

I've seen works where i thought the speed limit was too low for ME, but was too high for the morons i share the road with (the ones on their phones or distracted some other way).

Speed restrictions at a later point wont do anything, the people i see speeding through dont care either way, they usually just sit at 90 the whole time (then i pass them when the speed limit is back to 100 and they're still doing 90, go figure).

Also you dont need to slow at the roadwork ahead signs (black ring), you just need to be down to the limit when the proper sign is enforced (the red ring). You can be doing 80/100 20 metres before the 60 sign, as long as you are down to 60 before you pass it (which is what i do)

[b0son]

Surely it would be more beneficial if the police changed their target from the drivers to the workers? Make them actually do something for the entire time the speed restrictions are in force ... that 1 year timeline could be cut down to 3 months.

[TheInterceptor]

Similar story with roadworks across WA. There's a stretch that used to annoy the hell out of me on great eastern highway eastbound which is still going at the moment. Been 40 for months. All that work so far and there hasn't been much of an improvement to the previous bit of road they tore up.

But lower limits are cool, cruising along allows more time to check stuff on ya phone and mess around with the radio or eat a burger. You have way more time to straighten the car away from the gutter.

[malazn mafia]

Originally Posted by Lunch

Try driving in SA, their roadworks speed limit is 15kph, hard to swallow when you've slowed from 110kph on the highway for 5 kms for a guy in a tractor mowing grass 5 mtrs off the road..

Wow.. 15kph. At that rate I could get out of the car and start jogging and have exceeded the speed limit.

[Shonky.]

that stretch of road along the river towards Eagle Farm is mostly industrial/commercial traffic too

time is money, and they are wasting money by making people drive at 40 when the road can easily support 60

think of the economic cost of every vehicle taking 1/3 longer to get through there

on a cost/benefit basis any increase in safety made as a result of the speed decrease is about the most expensive safety measure that BNE city has seen

imagine if you could funnel that economic cost into added productivity

such a chook show

guess its good the road is finally getting an upgrade, but its gonna be a long slog for industry in the area in the meantime

[Vesper Martini]

Originally Posted by Gothefalcon

No it's not.... it's 25kph. Warranted in some situations... but overused in most where 40kph etc would be sufficient.

D

Indeed, very hard to maintain 40kph so I use cruise. but My cruise has a minimum of 36kph I think.

[Trump]

Originally Posted by b0son

Surely it would be more beneficial if the police changed their target from the drivers to the workers? Make them actually do something for the entire time the speed restrictions are in force ... that 1 year timeline could be cut down to 3 months.

This.

A new diamond interchange just opened on the Princes Fwy in Werribee and what should have taken four months tops took EIGHTEEN. Weeks would go by without a shovel being turned or someone even turning up to site. Yet the roadworks limit still applied, even though the emergency lanes were still usable, the entire length of the construction zone was fully barricaded from the flow of traffic and the road surface was not damaged or covered in debris.

[b0son]

Originally Posted by Trump

A new diamond interchange just opened on the Princes Fwy in Werribee and what should have taken four months tops took EIGHTEEN.

This will make your blood boil ....

https://www.facebook.com/Channel4New...54249963541939

There's an intersection upgrade near my place, and its been going for months with not much obvious progress. And when you see the five guys on the site, with only one of them actually doing anything while the other four stand and watch, its not surprising.

[Vesper Martini]

Originally Posted by b0son

This will make your blood boil ....

https://www.facebook.com/Channel4New...54249963541939

There's an intersection upgrade near my place, and its been going for months with not much obvious progress. And when you see the five guys on the site, with only one of them actually doing anything while the other four stand and watch, its not surprising.

In Victoria, they also put up signs telling us what the project will cost.
Some obscene amounts..

In my experience if you give a contractor a value to work to, they make sure it reaches that value, and not less

[TheInterceptor]

Originally Posted by b0son

This will make your blood boil ....

https://www.facebook.com/Channel4New...54249963541939

There's an intersection upgrade near my place, and its been going for months with not much obvious progress. And when you see the five guys on the site, with only one of them actually doing anything while the other four stand and watch, its not surprising.

Wowing gotta hand it to them.

Maybe we need a show n shame for road workers haha. I'd say maybe not as they're only doing their job, but well, they kinda aren't?