I have been travelling up and down the M4 in Sydney recently in off-peak times. Generally I'm in and out the right lane overtaking others. Then in the work zones I'm generally in the left lane with the same people I've just passed now whizzing past me instead.
What's the go?
Works zone speed limits don't seem to be patrolled so people drive at the normal speed. Its especially so when the signs are up and no actual work occurs. If I'm trying to get back to the office after a meeting I don't want to be sitting in 60km/hr traffic. I would never get back, I might as well turn around and go home. IMO
the M4 in Sydney
the m4 from penrith to blacktown are full of concrete barricades. the workers are well protected.
It's not always about the workers though. In this case it's also to compensate for the loss of emergency stopping lanes, and avoid cars smashing at high speed into the concrete barriers and become burning wrecks. (I've witnessed the aftermath on a local highway in VIC and it wasn't great, to say the least)
Drivers are sheep trotting along at whatever pace they feel like, rather than driving to the conditions.
It's the opposite for me. I speed because I'm driving to the conditions. Work zone (40kph) speed limits are mostly unnecessary.
Yeah, but do you fly through the 80 zones at 110?
That's a semi-permanent lower speed limit. I didn't think OP was referring to that. "Work zone" speed limits sound like the temporary 40km/h ones they set up with hand placed signs.
not just speed but meth as well
Method Man speeds now as well?
Because 60km/h between Parramatta Road and just before Homebush Bay Drive is silly when it's 80km in the opposite direction
Who told you that?
The road work limits were introduced for the benefit of road workers own safety. It's expected that drivers obey the speed limits. But often the workers don't seem to be considerate enough to remove the signs when there's no works being carried out. Their laziness and lack of mutual respect comes as an inconvenience to other road users.
While the above is not an excuse for drivers to break the law, I can see why people are iffy about the reduced road work zones. Many, especially during the night, may ask themselves "is there really any work going on here?".
Most work soled zones that are left in place are there because the road conditions do not support the normal speed limit. I’ll admit though that nanny state rules require th8s because stupid drivers try suing the road authority when the crash after not driving t o the conditions.
are left in place are there because the road conditions do not support the normal speed limit.
There's usually reduced speed zone (eg 80 and 60 zones) around road works already and 40km/h signs are often scantily placed especially along the highways.
The implications for someone getting pulled over in an ambiguous 40/km/h section along a highway is not good. Because of huge speed limit differences, someone who gets pulled over doing 80km/h or 110km/h will be treated as if they just killed a child. Being caught 70km/h over the speed limit results in a pretty harsh punishment!
Any evidence of this being thrown out of court?
I hear this argument all the time and it's frustrating. They keep the speed limits during out of work hours because of the changed road conditions. There could be debris, road equipment, water runoff etc.
They do it for your safety.
Agree with both Euph and Ryanek.
Where there was room to move off the road is now a huge concrete wall filling he emergency lane. Visibility is reduced from machines/fencing in the way. Road surface can be unstable. The list goes on.
Just because the workers are not there, doesn’t mean the road is magically driveable and safe to use at speed.
90% of roadworks on the Bruce highway don't affect the road conditions at all.
In fact especially around Rockhampton at the moment, there are start roadwork, end roadworks signs, and there's literally nothing. I can only assume they pay a 3rd party sign mob and don't bother telling them the roadwork guys are behind schedule and aren't ready.
It's not like there's a huge concrete barrier up reducing the width which makes it a clear slower speed zone whether workers are there or not.
They keep the speed limits during out of work hours because of the changed road conditions.
I'm specifically referring to the use of the 40km/h speed limits.
Often around the road works, they have 80km/h and 60km/h reduced zones already. The 40km/h was introduced for the "safety of road workers" and should be removed when there are no workers around. I've noticed that the 40km/h signs are pretty much always on A-frame stands that are placed there by the worker when they're working. Those signs should be collected at the end of the day/shift.
They do it for your safety.
Yes, okay.
because get out of my way
Did anyone witness the accident right in the work zone last week? I saw the aftermath with 2 cars ending up on the left hand side ditch.
It's abit strange because they're concrete barriers but didn't seem to see any where they were stopped.
How are we supposed to know what work zone you're referring to if you don't specify a road and location?
You know… The one that has road works! :p
M4. Heading east from Penrith and just before m7 on ramp.
Date and time would help too; do we literally have to think of everything for you? There's 24 hours and 7 days in a week …
For the record, no I did not as I didn't use that section of the M4 last week
Bikies
Are after me.
I think people speed though work zones because they are trying to get to an intersection first. Because I’ve noted that a lot of people on here think that if you get to an intersection first, you get to go first.
Because they won't let THE MAN tell them what to do! No sir, the man can dictate every other aspect of their average and conforming lives, but tell them how to drive? In their own vehicle? On the roads their taxes pay for? Not today he says! I cut the wires to the indicators in my BMW he says! I'll change lanes ten times just to get two cars ahead because life is a RACE to the finish line he says! Ugh, people.
Sounds like someone woke up on the wrong side of their bed this morning! :p~
I often see work zones but no workers around..
** whispers**I see dead people.
To me, it works the same as school zone, if no work is being done, I will drive at normal speed. I think we just need to apply common sense and drive to conditions, if the road is made narrower and there's lots of traffic, obviously slow down even though no work is taking place.
Can anyone put up speed signs, i.e. Road Work 40k ? Or do you need a permit to vary the statute speed for an area?
If anyone can do it without a permit why aren't we out there having a bit of fun with it?
As an aside, I actually contacted a local council about the speed signs in a 3k roadwork stretch.
A perfect example of why road work speed signs are ignored. The signs were misplaced, wrong, generally a dog's body of muck up, for example a 40k sign put on the ground under an uncovered 100k sign, a sign on my left 40k, on my right 100k (opposite sides of the road both facing me). I have photos of them all and used snap-send-solve. BANG! Next day, fixed. I was amazed. But why did I have to report it after about a week of the shmozzle? How does it get this bad? One photo shows a 100k sign under a 60k sign approaching a primary school.
Here an example photo, 1 of many I took: https://ibb.co/nBn3Ky
Haha! Yeah, and people wonder why those 40kph signs aren't taken seriously.
Can anyone put up speed signs, i.e. Road Work 40k ? Or do you need a permit to vary the statute speed for an area?
Yes, you need a permit. In Nsw you need a road occupancy licence for an RMS road and a speed zone permit to lower the speed limit and have it enforceable. Local council roads you also need permission, but different councils work differently.
"Everyone else does it so it must be OK?"
Well, if everyone else does it and is perfectly fine, then yeah, it is OK.
One of the issues with workzones from my perspective is that there isn't a change in speed limits depending on the time of day. Theres sections of the M4 which are workzones, but for the majority of the day, workers aren't working.
I delight in always doing the speed limit through the work zones and watching the cars bank up behind me.
Where I live there is about a 4 km stretch of road that they are duplicating and the entire stretch is 60 km/h the whole way up and down. I put it on cruise at 60 and just smile as one impatient driver after another starts tailgating one another behind me.
I delight in always doing the speed limit through the work zones and watching the cars bank up behind me.
Do you enjoy the perceived powertrip because you're the front car?
I'd suggest you focus on your own driving and watch out for road workers instead of trying to get enjoyment out of watching other drivers get frustrated.
I absolutely love the perceived power trip of being the front car!
Why else would I do it?
I have absolutely no problems with the 40k roadwork limits when valid. I have once had a worker absent-mindedly step out in front of my car in a grave surface workzone. I stopped OK, it scared the hell out of both of us and he quickly realised what he had done. That OMG feeling hit everyone, like that TV ad they used to do, the knock off 5 campaign.
Any faster than 40k's he might have died.
Welcome to Australia, where driver logic doesn't exist.