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This is the subject that appears to confuse most people; what is a system of street lighting ? can there be street lights but no 30mph speed limit ?, what and when is a road restricted ?, can you have a 30mph speed limit without street lighting?
1. A restricted road (section 81 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984) simply means that a road is restricted to 30mph if there is a system of street lighting on it with lampposts spaced at intervals of no more than 200 yards apart (183 metres) a minimum of 3 street lights is taken to qualify as a system of street lighting (Section 82 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984).
2. This then begs the question 'what exactly is a system of street lighting', does it include those ornamental lights that you see in towns and villages, does it include street lights that are set back from the road designed just to light the footway, does it include those lights that you see on telegraph poles, does it include those lights where the light is very poor quality. This is where the definition is a bit blurred, the Government say however in their circular 01/2006 'Setting Local Speed Limits' ….'street lighting (for the purposes of determining whether or not a road is restricted ) is not necessarily limited to street lamps, but may extend to lighting provided by authorities or parish councils' (known as footway or amenity lighting). Essentially the lighting has to be good enough to light the road and if it doesn't then the chances are it is not a proper system of street lighting and so there is no 30mph speed limit. The definition that I use is taken from the Traffic Signs and Regulations General Directions 2002, 'where street lamps are between 13 feet (3.96 metres) and 20 feet (6.1 metres) high, they constitute a road lighting system only if there are no gaps greater than 50 yards (45.7 metres) between any pair of lamps in the system. Only street lamps higher than 20 feet (6.1 metres automatically qualify as a road lighting system, subject to the 183 metres maximum spacing (direction 11, paragraph (4)(a) subparagraph (b)).
3. If the street lighting isn't of sufficient quality to light the road then it cant be classified as a restricted road (a 30mph road) and the 30mph limit would then become unenforceable and a legal 30mph speed limit order should have been made under section 82 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984. If you make a 30mph speed limit order then you need to erect 30mph repeater signs, these are small circular signs like the larger ones, there are three sizes, 300mm, 450mm and 600mm (dual carriageways 60mph+), in most villages the smaller 300mm size would be used. The first repeater after the start of the 30mph speed limit needs to be within 200 metres of the start of the limit and thereafter at intervals of no more than 250 metres between signs if they are placed on alternate sides of the carriageway, if they are placed on the same side of the carriageway then they can be up to 400 metres apart. (the first being within 200 metres of the start of the speed limit in either case). The signs can be mounted on a metal pole or even wooden posts or on the street lights themselves, but not on telegraph or electricity poles for safety reasons (they may cause injury to the service engineer when climbing the pole).
4. You can obtain a copy of the legal order by contacting your Local Council, the Traffic Management Section in the Highways Department should keep paper copies or the Legal Department, failing this your local Magistrates Court/Police authority should keep copies, a small fee maybe charged, perhaps £20 +.
5. You will not see 30mph repeater signs on any lamppost within a proper system of street lighting, to do so is illegal and invalidates the speed limit (Section 82, direction 11(4) Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984). As most large urban areas have a proper system of street lighting to mount repeaters on all streets with street lights would be expensive, time consuming and impracticable, the lampposts themselves act as the repeater signs. Instances where local authorities have done this in certain high profile areas they have been told to remove them by the Government Office.
6 . Now, what about those areas where there is a proper system of street lighting and yet the 30mph speed limit continues past the end of the system. If the 30mph speed limit extends beyond the system of street lighting ie. into darkness, then an order needs to be made for the length between the first street light and start of the 30 mph speed limit, even if this is a short distance. For example if a village is lit by a proper system of street lights for 1000 metres and is signed at either end for 500 metres beyond the last street light then a legal order needs to be made for the extra 500 metres at either end. The first repeater sign (minimum 300mm diameter) mounted back to back (2 signs - one in each direction) on a single pole needs to be within 200 metres of the start of the speed limit and then at intervals of 400 metres if on the same side of the road or 250 metres if on alternate sides of the road. The advice states that if a 30mph speed limit extends to beyond the system of street lighting then a repeater sign needs to be erected within 100 metres of the last street light. The repeater sign spacing will then need adjusting to take account of this, but provided that there is a repeater sign within 100 metres of the first street light and one within 200 metres of the 30mph sign the signing will be legal provided the spacing in-between is according to the rules mentioned earlier.
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