When the only visible sign about the speed limit is announcing the end of the given speed limit, what are we to do? Surely, they don’t mean to whimsically choose any speed as long as it isn’t that.
Yesterday, each time I passed one, I had almost no clue how to use the information. I had the vague inkling that the speed limit was probably higher now. Each time I saw “END 35 MPH SPEED LIMIT”, for example, I guessed the limit was probably 40 or 45.
I think there are supposed to be standard speed limits that apply when not otherwise posted, and that they depend on whether you’re inside or outside of an incorporated town, but I’m not sure what they are supposed to be. I suspect this might change from state to state, and where I live it’s common to drive in four different states in the course of a normal day. Besides, I didn’t see any signs indicating whether I was inside or outside the town limits.
These signs take more wordage than it would have required to just fess up about what the limit actually was.
can’t speak for every state, but in Michigan I typically see those on two-lane rural roads between communities outside of the metro area when leaving a speed-controlled city, town or village. essentially that means the speed limit defaults to 55 mph.
Yeah, same in Oregon, you see those short distance speed limit signs to calm traffic going through some tiny town you barely know is there and on the other side of that the sign lets you know it’s okay to get back to the normal 55 speed limit. Closely related to the “end school zone” signs that signify your return to whatever else the speed limit was before the school came into play.
In the U.K., a black diagonal stripe on a white circle explicitly means “national speed limit applies”, these are very common. I guess it means a lot less work if the national speed limit is ever changed.
Well, this isn’t going to be pretty. I found a very informative article at http://https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_limits_in_the_United_States
which includes a table of several hundred speed limits by state and type of road, but it’s not clear what constitutes a default speed limit if not posted. The phrase “end speed” doesn’t appear.
In the U.S. there is generally not a default speed limit, although there are some exceptions (in D.C. the speed limit throughout the entire city is 25 MPH unless posted otherwise). But when you are traveling 20 miles on a rural road with a posted limit of 55 MPH, then hit a small town with a posted limit of 25 MPH, if you see a sign as you leave town that says END 25 MPH then the 55 MPH is back in effect.
All of this invites (but does not beg) the question: Why not just say “SPEED LIMIT 55 MPH” instead?
I’ve usually seen them after little towns where the speed limit from before the town is decreased. I take them as a sign I can resume the speed limit that applied before reduced speed in the town. Usually there is a speed limit sign soon after this one to eliminate any ambiguity.
But very helpful, since small towns often have cops to enforce the lower speed limit and to keep people from blowing through at the previous speed.
And the national speed limit is different for different roads. On a dual carriageway it’s 70 mph; on a single carriageway 60. And that’s for a car: other vehicles may have different limits. See here.
Many times past that sign it is outside their jurisdiction to regulate the speed limit, They have no say as to what it is, just letting you know that their rules no longer apply.
Every state has a standard speed limit (or set of speed limits depending upon road type) applicable in the absence of signage. Thus, when you get to the end of a signed speed limited area, the default applies. USUALLY, the default is posted at the border to the state (for example, I go past the notification about North Carolina’s and South Carolina’s default speed limits about a couple dozen times a month, as I live right by that border). Residents, of course, are expected to know the law for the state in which they live.
Don’t most states have statutory speed limits that apply when there is no posted speed limit sign? I know Maine does. I’m going from memory here, but I believe it’s 15 m.p.h. for school zones, 25 m.p.h. for built-up areas, and 45 for rural roads and highways.
If I were in a residential area with a posted speed limit of 35 miles per hour, and saw a sign that said “end speed limit 35,” I would interpret that to mean that the statutory limit applies, not necessarily the speed limit prior to entering the 35 zone.
The point of such signs is to prevent conflicts between local drivers who know the area, asnd know that the speed limit goes back up to 55 m/h here, and other drivers who don’t know that.
When one gets stuck behind someone who continues to poke along at 25 m/h when the limit is 55, they tend to get angry, honk & wave, and try to pass the slowpoke, even when it might not be safe. So these signs work to prevent such disagreements, and the accidents they can cause.
Usually because the slower speed limit signs are from a town, which doesn’t have authority to put up a 55 m/h sign on a state highway right-of-way. So they put up the end limit sign. Often, you will then see a 55 m/h sign a short distance beyond that, but it took months before the state got around to putting that up.
That’s all I’ve ever seen. And it makes more sense, because how do you know the person went through the entire town on that road? Or didn’t just start from within that town?
The only ones about a speed limit ending I know of are signs that warn that a slower speed limit is coming up.
The only possible exception I can think of are school zones. I can’t remember for sure, but I think there may be some that say the school zone is over, across the street from the sign on the other side saying that the school zone has started. But those zones are so small that I can’t imagine anyone not knowing. (Plus the signs say in my town, at least, say something like “35 MPH when lights not flashing.”)
But that still seems silly. The sign is presumably just on the edge of town, so it should be still in their jurisdiction. Set it at 55 MPH for, say, 100 feet still in the town.
Are you saying they have an upper limit to the number they can put on a sign in the town? I’d’ve thought the only limit would be that it can’t be higher than the rural limit.
Arkansas does, but (1) it’s more than one value, depending on circumstances and vehicle and (2) not something I was ever taught in the school-run Driver’s Ed program and (3) may have changed recently.
Best I can tell, the numbers are 65 mph on a divided highway, except only 55 mph for large trucks and trailers. It’s 60 mph on non-divided highways. It’s 40 mph on county roads, 35 mph on any road within a population center like a city, and 25 mph in a school zone. I seem to also remember a limit of either 15 or 25 mph on dirt roads.
I’ve always wondered why, instead of posting a “End *** speed zone” sign why they just didn’t post a sign with the new limit on it. It would cost the same and completely eliminate any question about what the limit is.
Missouri has speed limit signs on their state highways that completely baffle me. There will be a normal speed limit sign, let’s say 60. Then right next to it is a sign “Speed Limit 25 Except Where Posted”. Well, the only place it’s posted is right there where the sign is. So do I have to drop to 25 as soon as I’ve passed the speed limit sign? Or is there a certain distance after which I decide “I haven’t seen the speed limit posted in a while. Is it 25 now?” It just makes no sense to me.
