Question of the week: How do I know when restrictions on smart motorways end?
Fri, 25 Apr 2025
Dear Honest John,
"I regularly drive on a 20 mile stretch of smart motorway, often late at night. When do "restrictions" end?
For example, if the two left lanes show a red X and right two lanes show a 40mph limit, I therefore move to lane 3 and proceed at 40 mph. The next gantry shows the same, so I carry on at 40mph in lane 3.
Then the gantries do not show anything. But I've not had any notification that lanes 1 and 2 are open or that national speed limit applies. Do I carry on in lane 3 at 40mph until the national speed limit fixed sign at the end of the "smart" motorway? Do I accelerate and move left to lane 1 when the overhead gantries are blank?"
- DS
Dear DS,
The Highway Code does not offer specific guidance for the absence of a red X or speed limit when they have been displayed previously, but it does provide the following guidance in Rule 258: "A sign will inform you when the lane is no longer closed by displaying a speed limit or the word ‘END’."
If a temporary speed limit or X has been displayed in a lane, it is advisable to assume its continuation until contrary information is provided, in the same way that you should obey a fixed speed limit sign even in the absence of further signs unless a sign provides contrary guidance.
It may be tempting to continue at normal motorway speeds if no temporary speed limit is displayed on an overhead gantry but there is always the potential for the gantry to be inoperative, and in the event of a speed camera being triggered or being stopped by the police you would need to defend your actions on the basis of there being no posted limit.
Is a red cross over a smart motorway lane advisory or mandatory?
