[Closed] Scottish motorway speed limits

Circle /black stripe is national speed limit, normally 60mph.
That's a UK thing.

National speed limit on motorways is 70 though, and you see the black stripe sign eg. at the end of roadworks.

You don’t see ‘70’ signs in England AFAIK.

For smaller roads.. The limit on M roads is 85 70.

Yes, but in Scotland they’re signed as ‘70’ and in England they’re signed as national limit - I was curious whether there was a reason for this.

You can see this in action going M74-M6.

Actual motorways? Or M rounds that have turned into dual carriageway A roads?

It'll be a max of 110 km/h on the signs in Scotland soon 🙂

I looked it up once after driving through Glasgow, I forget the detail but basically different regulations apply to motorway speed limit signage in Scotland

Actual motorways? Or M rounds that have turned into dual carriageway A roads?

The M74/A74(M)/M6 is a continuous run of motorway from Glasgow to Rugby, but even when it wasn’t, I remember seeing ‘70’ signs on the M8

It’ll be a max of 110 km/h on the signs in Scotland soon

Aye, and in NI. Should really be in all of the UK now, given that we started metrication before the rest of the commonwealth, and unlike the rest haven’t finished it.

I've been told that 70 signs are necessary if there are street lights, because the National Speed Limit would be 30, so 70 has to be signed specifically. Do the Scottish Motorways with 70 signs have street lights - I can't remember?

I've often wondered why too, I noticed when I moved to Scotland.
Never remembered to actually look it up though.

I thought they were just reminding you.

I've seen it in Wales aswell, 60mph signs on A roads.

It's strange as unlike a 30/40/50, the NSL varies based on vehicle, so the signs are misleading

Ask the road geeks on Sabre. Seems it has been discussed there a few times. https://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=39865

Seems it is different regulations for motorways in Scotland, and they don't define a speed limit. So it needs to be signed.

I’ve been told that 70 signs are necessary if there are street lights, because the National Speed Limit would be 30, so 70 has to be signed specifically

For a dual carriageway (i.e. with a central meridian) NSL is 70 mph for a car, 60 for a HGV, etc. (90 for an Audi).

a 70 limit would apply to all vehicles, including HGVs, which I was I understand the reason to be.

It’ll be a max of 110 km/h on the signs in Scotland soon

Should round it up to 120 km/h to be in line with most of Europe. (Seems to vary from 120 - 140 km/h [excluding the "free" parts of the autobahn in Germany] IME).

Motorways - in Scotland?
Whoever knew?

We travel from the English north to Glasgow semi-regularly, now I’ve no idea why it is specifically different to England, but mrs77 insists on doing the driving (suits me fine) and she reckons she is happy to do 85-90 in the southern lands but religiously sticks to 70 on Scottish motorway.

she is happy to do 85-90 in the southern lands but religiously sticks to 70 on Scottish motorway.

Sensible, always seems to be way more traffic cops/temp cameras set up once the M6 becomes M74.

I just always assumed it's because the M8 going through Glasgow is a bit of an abortion, with exits off lane 3 etc, and because we're raving alcies up here, we need all the signage we can get. 😉

I just assumed it was a help for tourists that Scotland had decided on.

Sensible, always seems to be way more traffic cops/temp cameras set up once the M6 becomes M74.

For balance, there was a temporary van on an M6 overbridge in Cumbria when I was coming south 2 days ago, and one of my friends got done near Penrith.

You don't get speed awareness courses in Scotland, there are loads of plod on the M74 and they don't seem so tolerant of 90MPH German-wagons, so I think most people slow down a little when heading North.

NOt driven that way for years but I always found it the other way - no cameras on the M74. loads on the M6

You don’t get speed awareness courses in Scotland, there are loads of plod on the M74 and they don’t seem so tolerant of 90MPH German-wagons, so I think most people slow down a little when heading North.

My mate ended up on a speed awareness course in Carlisle.

What’s the point of speeding, anyway? Even aside from the legal/environmental reasons, it barely saves any time anyway.

Should round it up to 120 km/h to be in line with most of Europe. (Seems to vary from 120 – 140 km/h [excluding the “free” parts of the autobahn in Germany] IME).

I think the French were considering dropping their autoroute limit from 130 to 115 (=71.5mph) though, and they’ve recently reduced the N-road limit from 90 to 80.

NOt driven that way for years

That'll be why then....

Coming up the m74 yesterday, average speed for most seemed to be about 85 tbh.(from abington up to hamilton)

There was a section signed for 40 just before Larkhall, which everyone just completely ignored*! 😆

*not me, I was just an observant passenger!

What’s the point of speeding, anyway? Even aside from the legal/environmental reasons, it barely saves any time anyway.

Why not just drive at half the speed limit? You're right that there's nothing to be gained trying to go fast with traffic in the way, but it's really quite simple maths to find out how much time you save by going at, say, 20mph above the limit.

Or to put it another way, why not just save fuel by going at 50 on the motorway?

What’s the point of speeding, anyway?

To humiliate the poor in their Dacia Sanderos?

I despise the poor.

NOt driven that way for years

That’ll be why then….

To contradict you all, I find a fairly steady distribution of mobile cameras between the M6 in Cumbria and the M74, and I assume up and down that section of road quite often.

What I really want to know now though is whether an incorrectly signposted motorway in Scotland would have no speed limit or a 30mph limit.

To humiliate the poor in their Dacia Sanderos?

Slightly off topic but I remember a special lane on the causeway between Saudi Arabia and Bahrain which you have to buy a special permit for to avoid the poorer drivers (guess it’s all relative out there). I’m surprised it hasn’t caught on elsewhere in the more affluent corners of the planet.

Elsewhere in Scotland (not a motorway)

For a dual carriageway (i.e. with a central meridian) NSL is 70 mph for a car, 60 for a HGV, etc. (90 for an Audi).

a 70 limit would apply to all vehicles, including HGVs, which I was I understand the reason to be.

This was always my take on it too.

I’ve been told that 70 signs are necessary if there are street lights, because the National Speed Limit would be 30,

NSL would never be 30, it is 70mph for cars on a dual carriageway, 60mph on a single carriageway. Slower for trucks, cars with trailers, etc. If there are Street lights it’s 30mph for everyone [i]unless[/i] there are speed limit repeater signs on the street lamps, or it’s a motorway (blue signs rather than green or white)

Can you tell i’ve Recently done a speed awareness course? Oops

For a dual carriageway (i.e. with a central meridian) NSL is 70 mph for a car, 60 for a HGV, etc. (90 for an Audi)

Don't think that's right:

NSL is 70mph for cars, 60mph for LGV and 50mph for HGV

LVG, HGV, yep your're right.

Thanks for the info graphic too.

Nobeer, you forgot to mention the speed limit that changes with the area code, 50mph for 0141, 60mph for all suburbs and 70mph where carrier pigeons take over.

I also noticed the 70 sign on the Edinburgh shitty bypass and pondered when the last time was that anyone ever got close to that speed on that forsaken strip of hell.

My mate ended up on a speed awareness course in Carlisle.

Which is still in England last time I checked, unless those Scottish thugs have been on the bucky and started up again?

We are also going regularly from home to Glasgow at the moment and hiring cars to drive north. There are still Police cars patrolling the roads in Scotland and even squadrons of Police motorbikes on the A roads at weekends, which surprises us because you can drive for days on English roads without seeing a Police car.

Which is still in England last time I checked, unless those Scottish thugs have been on the bucky and started up again?

Someone was saying above that you don't see cameras/traffic cars in Cumbria.

(90 for an Audi).

Only if very old or poverty-spec surely.

I also noticed the 70 sign on the Edinburgh shitty bypass and pondered when the last time was that anyone ever got close to that speed on that forsaken strip of hell.

The dual carriageway past the airport has recently been downgraded from a 70mph to a 40mph. Our local community FB page was up in arms, even when I repeatedly pointed out that over that distance it will literally only add 1 minute to the journey.

Thing is... I miss being able to floor it along there in the evenings now, it helped to banish the memories of crawling along in first gear during rush hour... 🙁

I once managed 130mph on the Edinburgh City Bypass when it only ran between Wester Hailes and Fairmilehead. I'd just finished a night shift at Sighthill and it was early morning. My Suzuki 1100 was running nicely. That might seem like quite a gentle bend as it crosses the WoL and Woodhall Road, but not at those speeds!