anyone who has travelled the M25 j10 - 15 will know what i mean 
the matrix signs are lit up with a speed limit (50MPH for example) but within a couple of hundred yards, there is a 40MPH roadworks sign. which one do you stick to? last night, the roadworks signs were consistently 40MPH but the matrix signs showed everything from 30MPH to NSL. i played it safe by sticking to whichever was lower but surely we would get away with it if we mentioned this stupidity?
That stretch is signed as âVariable Speed Limitâ so you would really have to stick to whatever was the lower, be that the overhead gantry signs or the static roadworks signs.
Actually through the Law must Speedrestriction be signed on both side of Motorway or dual Carriageway.
Means laft and right.
There is as well the minimumsize of the Signs in the Law fixed.
In that Case is a sign painted on Road or Overhead just a additional Information,as you canât see it by bad weather.
I just go through 40mph Zone with that Speed,as it is otherwise too expensive if anything goes wrong
Are those gantry signs legally binding? Up here (M60) we have gantry signs showing all sorts of rubbish and everyone ignores them. Iâve always assumed that they are warnings and suggestions rather than a statutory change in the speed limit which could be enforced by cameras.
But I know that the south has far more cameras on the motorways than the NW. They have averaging digital cameras and fixed cameras all over the place down there, it must be a nightmare.
FNG
The gantry signs on that stretch are, they show a speed surrounded by a red circle, which makes them mandatory. The central reservation type matrix signs and other overhead information signs are there as advisories, it has to have the red circle around it to make it an instruction.
Simple really you do the speed of the last one you passed.
scanny77:
but surely we would get away with it if we mentioned this stupidity?
How would you get away with it, and how is it stupid? That whole section is variable speed limit so strange as it may seem the speed limit will , whatâs the wordâŚoh yeah vary. 
Seems straightforward to me. You pass a sign that says 50, you donât do more than 50, if the next one says 40 you stay below 40. One says 30 youâŚwell you see the pattern here?
FNG:
Are those gantry signs legally binding?
Have you ever passed a driving test or looked at the Highway Code?
erm yes why? but I havenât driven south of birmingham in 10 years and things have changed.
Iâve never seen compulsary speed signs on overhead gantries on the M60 or M6 and Iâm not aware they have them. (M6 doesnât even have gantries for a lot it towards Scotland) As I said in my post, they do a lot of things different on the roads in the SE and London that are not needed or done in the NW.
FNG
Coffeeholic:
Seems straightforward to me. You pass a sign that says 50, you donât do more than 50, if the next one says 40 you stay below 40. One says 30 youâŚwell you see the pattern here?
So what if the next one says 20 ;);) i dont understand⌠
Through that stretch, if the variable red circle gantry signs are on, I would treat those as overriding the temporary red circle 40 signs.
If they want you to stick within 40, then surely they would set the gantry signs at 40 - not 50, 60 or the National?
Look at it the other way round. If the gantry signs are set at 30, would you think the temporary 40 signs override the variable 30? Probably not!
If a case like this went to court, I reckon the magistrates would find in favour of the driver.
Alternatively you could stick to what Coffee said and err on the side of caution, hense ensuring no ticket, no need to fight about it, and no risk of being found guilty.
Perhaps for HIS benefit, you could translate this into German
No need to translate it. On the occasions you are referring to I was ignoring the limits and knew what I was doing so, there was no confusion.
i refer you all to a recent case down here where the speed limit was not clear so over a thousand fines were thrown out of court. surely this would be similiar? the roadworks signs are saying 40 but the gantry signs (some with scameras) are saying 50 (with red circle) and these 2 limits are within a couple of hundred yards of each other. how is that clear?
personally, i did stick to the lower limit but i still think that this is ridiculous. if the roadworks are a 40 limit, why cant the gantry signs reflect this consistently rather than each one being a different limit than the roadworks signs?
this seems to have brought some very different responses here which points to a bit of confusion so how do you think car drivers are coping with this when they dont seem to understand the basics of driving anyway? 
pretty rare to get up to 40 through there!
scanny77:
the roadworks signs are saying 40 but the gantry signs (some with scameras) are saying 50 (with red circle) and these 2 limits are within a couple of hundred yards of each other. how is that clear?
Well as you have just described variable speed limits and that section is a variable speed limit section I would say it is 100% clear.
Even before the current roadworks were in place the overhead signs could dispaly a different speed on each gantry, so you were altering speed the whole time.
that i understand but when you have one limit above your head and a different one at the side of the road, this becomes less clear. i would imagine the roadworks signs would overrule the gantry signs but again, surely they should coincide with each other?
Why not just go with whatever the lower limit is and be sure? Problem solved.
thats exactly what i did Lucy! much to the annoyance of every other road user around me
i would still like to know which limit applies though. surely one overrides the other, especially in roadworks (whats left of them )