May. 8th, 2023

mtbc: maze D (yellow-black)
Driving in England, I often see national speed limit signs which implicitly specify a speed limit that depends on the road one's on and the vehicle one's driving on it. There are also speed limit signs stating a specific number, often 30 or 40, which I believe limit all vehicles identically, at least the Highway Code doesn't seem to add any obvious caveats suggesting otherwise. These signs seem agreeably easy to interpret: one is ordered to apply either the defaults or the given number.

Driving the moving van, I became more aware of those defaults because the limits for such vans are different. It was but a modestly sized van but still limited to 60mph on dual carriageways. I got to thinking of the larger lorries that even on motorways are limited to 60mph and wondered about signing I had seen on Scottish sections of motorway that bear a 70mph sign instead of a national speed limit sign.

What on Earth do those mean? Are there any 70mph signs in England too? Can a large articulated lorry really travel at 70mph on these roads? If not, where is the section of the Highway Code that tells me that?

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Mark T. B. Carroll

February 2026

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