Safe Speed Forums

Some four years ago I accepted a fixed penalty for doing 49mph in a truck on a four lanes wide and continuous double white lines in centre of the road. Limit for trucks on non-dual carrieway being 40mph. My view at the time was that as there was a central barrier I.E. Continuous double white lines, then that road was a dual carriageway with a limit of 50mph. I was informed by the police that although in the regulations governing what constitutes a 'barrier' no definitions are given. So the way to find out was to take it to court to find out. Any Ideas out there who's right etc?

IIRC correctly dual carriageways always have to start with a "dual carriageway ahead" sign, and end with the two-carraigeways-merging-into-one sign.

And I don't think it's a matter of multiple lanes, I think there must be some physical separation of carriageways for it to be a DC.

Dual carriageways are defined by the presence of a central reservation.

A 'central reservation' is land-which-is-not-road.

So the road described was not a dual carriageway.

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Paul Smith
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I can't see how double white lines can constitute a barrier for this purpose. If they did, that would mean that every time a two-lane highway is marked with double white lines it would become a dual carriageway and thus the regular car speed limit would increase to 70 mph for the no-overtaking stretch.

I think barrier in this context has to mean some sort of physical barrier which prevents, or at least hinders, easy passage to the opposite side of the road, not just painted lines.

I agree. There's a section of A66 just East of Keswick where that happens (albeing only on the uphill stretch) and it's a favourite place for the local scammers to hang out waiting to catch motorists who do more than 60!

From what I remember, the legal definition of a dual carriageway is a road comprising two carriageways separated by land.

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Andrew.

As others said, must be a physical barrier/land between the two.

I remember a similar discussion before, a double white line can legally be crossed in some situations.

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Andrew.

Quite often if the line nearest to you is 'broken' as you can overtake.

If double 'solid' white lines you can cross them if you need to enter a side road. You may also (if the road is clear!) pass a stationary vehicle, or overtake a pedal cycle, horse or road maintenance vehicle, if they are travelling at 10 mph (16 km/h) or less.

Highway Code rules 128 and 129