Safe Speed Forums

Have looked in the highway code and cannot find the answer to this question so can someone on here please help. there are quite a few 3 lane NSL roads in bucks ( as I am sure there are everywhere else) which consist of a dual carriageway and a single lane with unbroken white line seperating the two. the single lane has a broken white line so you can overtake if safe to do so, effectively making them both dual carriageways.Both sides show NSL signs. Am I right to assume that the single lane is 70mph as is the dual carriageway.(as i am sure you all know single lane NSL is 60mph)

No, you're wrong. A dual carriageway has to have a physical separation between the carriageways (=central reservation).

The road you describe is a 60mph NSL single carriageway.

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Thanks Paul. I was unaware that a dual carriageway had to have a physical seperation. I bet a whole lot of people reading this are not too sure about this sort of set-up either, friends I have asked did'nt know.Great site for info.

It does seem to be a very widespread misapprehension that a dual carriageway is defined by having two or more lanes in each direction rather than by having a physical central separation. Perhaps the Highway Code should actually define the term.

And of course nowadays it's increasingly common to find dual carriageways with only one lane in each direction, the other having been hatched out

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My local safety camera team exploit this misunderstanding and have recently installed several fixed cameras on these 3 lane stretches of NSL single carriageway. I wonder how many are caught out by this?

I believe a dual carriageway is defined as a road comprising two carriageways separated by land. The number of lanes is most certainly not relevant.

But it does make you think, how many people don't actually know what the legal speed limit is for a certain road (or think they do but get it wrong) and don't crash because of it?

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Andrew.

That's interesting, I remember some time ago I used to drive a section of road that was single lane but for a small distance (<1 mile) each carriageway was separated (as in one direction the road was higher up the hill than the other).

Could that then be described as a dual carriageway I wonder?

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Sounds like it.

Wasn't in Kent, was it? There's a photo in Sabre's Photo of the Month currently here of a nice dual carriageway.

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Andrew.

That looks very much like the dual carriageway on the way out of Burham, and was exactly the one that sprung into my mind reading this.

The 'lower' road is fairly easy but the 'top' road has a challenging dip and swerve about half way along.

Aerial pic here

Mike

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Yes Mike it is the road from Burham.

I used to drive that a lot and, as you quite rightly say, the top part is definitely not to be driven at the NSL. There are places along it where some people think it a good idea to park

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