Speed limits in the UK

I'm taking government and politics and some guy is trying to say that there are no speed limits in the UK as is using the M6 as an example. I remember there being speed limits when I lived in Manchester and traffic cameras to enforce them. Who is right here? 

There are definitely speed limits! And here is the specific law regarding the M6: http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2003/20032188.htm

We most definitely do have speed limits in the UK, but whether they are actually adhered to by drivers is another thing altogether. Driving up or down the M6 at 90mph is common but also illegal (speed limit is 70mph). In the last few years, the number of speed cameras has increased by a fair amount and if you are caught speeding, you still get fined £60 and have 3 points put on your licence.

The speed limits are set out clearly in the Highway Code and on police websites- perhaps you could direct the guy to these links:

http://www.highwaycode.gov.uk/09.htm

http://www.police999.com/traffic/speedlim.html

http://www.safespeed.org.uk/speedlimits.html

http://www.stvincent.ac.uk/Resources/Physics/Speed/road/limits.html

Thank you! The guy is an idiot. He's also trying to say that we shouldn't have speed limits. I'm posting the links (it's an online class forum for debates) and then I don't think I can be bothered with him anymore. 

Maybe he is thinking of Germany and the autobahn?  But even on the Autobahn they can pull you over based on the conditions. 

In summary, current limits are:

30 mph in a built-up area
60 mph on all other two-way roads
70 mph on motorways & other "dual carriageways" (divided highways)

All unless a lower limit is posted, of course, and there are lower speeds for trucks, trailers, etc.

There was a time, however, when the open roads had no upper limit.   You can see the legacy of this in the signage, i.e. 20, 30, 40, 50 mph signs look like this:



But the sign which appears at the end of a speed zone to indicate that the normal national limit now applies is this sign:



This formerly indicated "end of speed restriction."


More on British speed limits, past and present, here:

http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roadsafety/speedmanagement/speedknowyourlimits

Just to add that motorways * specifically had no speed limit when first built in the late 1950s.  The motorway limit became 70 mph in the mid-1960s, which is what it has been ever since except for a brief period when it was lowered during the oil crisis of the 1970s.

* Motorway = A controlled-access divided highway, comparable to an expressway.  Designated by "M" road numbers on maps/signs, although there are also some short stretches of other major trunk roads which are legally considered to be motorways and are designated with "(M)" after the number, e.g. A1(M).

OMG I thought it was only 70mph where there are evenly-spaced perpendicular white markings on the road.
 

Keeping up with traffic often means 100 MPH... and we had no idea there were any speed limits.  Maybe we were going too fast to see the signs?

Maybe we were going too fast to see the signs?

You won't find any 70 signs on the motorway.  Signs are posted here at points where the limit changes (up or down), and smaller repeater signs are placed every few yards on roads which have a limit other than the default (e.g. a 40 mph road going through a built-up area will have regular 40 signs along it as a reminder; a 50 mph stretch of open two-lane highway will have regular 50 repeater signs to remind you that it isn't 60). 

If you join the motorway from a 50 mph or less ramp, there should be the "National Speed Limit" sign (black/white sign pictured above) as you join, but that's it.  It's up to you to know that "National Speed Limit" means 60 mph on a two-way road or 70 mph on a divided highway. 

Even if you are driving along one of those main roads which keeps going from single to dual carriageway and back again, you have to remember that in the absence of signs to the contrary the limit is 60 on the two-way sections and 70 on the divided sections.

I may be imagining it, but I do seem to vaguely recall that there were actually some 70 signs (in the red circle) on the approach to motorways when I was a kid in the 1970s.  If so, they were probably erected in the 1960s when the limit was introduced just to reinforce the idea that the black/white "end restriction" sign no longer meant unlimited speed.   

We don't have a speed limit as such on the Isle of Man. We have speed restrictions in built up areas, but not elsewhere. Strange.

Quite a number of U.S. states had no absolute maximum speed for open highways in the past, simply requiring drivers to proceed at a speed which was "reasonable & prudent" for the conditions.  At least two states (Nevada and Montana) still had this right up until the 55 mph limit was introduced in 1973.   

Quite a number of U.S. states had no absolute maximum speed for open highways in the past, simply requiring drivers to proceed at a speed which was "reasonable & prudent" for the conditions.  At least two states (Nevada and Montana) still had this right up until the 55 mph limit was introduced in 1973.   

Quite a number of U.S. states had no absolute maximum speed for open highways in the past, simply requiring drivers to proceed at a speed which was "reasonable & prudent" for the conditions.  At least two states (Nevada and Montana) still had this right up until the 55 mph limit was introduced in 1973.   

I could see why...I've been doing alot of driving out west. You can go for miles and not see  one living thing. One day we drove for over three hours without even seeing a cow. No houses, nothing. The roads were straight and flat and the speed limit was around 60. It drove me nuts no being able to go faster.