Posted By A Campbell Hi David, It's an interesting point as a lot of goverment media reffers to 20 mph in built up areas. i suppose it would depend on the ammount of pedestrian trafic - if designated walkways are in situ etc? 5 mph may be regarded as a snail pace (1st gear comes to mind!) although could still be justified. In addition... how much additional cost is involved in changing your signage? How many near miss or incidents have occurred over the years? To make a decision would likely entail all these areas with involvement and money from your board? Lastly have you looked at enforcement by way of reminder to the bus company, regular delivery firms and other site occupiers? Although not work related I have a small civil engineer company based in my village who have a sign displaying max 20mph in the village... flouted daily and wrote to their MD reminding of the self rule and their liability if a traffic incident occurred!

Posted By Peter_hse Regarding speed limits - does anyone know how enforceable the speed limits are on a typical industrial site? I'm thinking that the roads are not public roads and are not necessarily owned by the resident company. Obviously we can't issue speed tickets but can ban or prevent access if appropriate from an H&S point of view. If an accident occurs and drivers were not being constantly reminded to drive below the speed limit then the company may be negligent. But isn't a speed limit sign a constant reminder? Any thoughts...?

Posted By Haggis JM ...so you're telling them at induction that the site rules don't mean anything? We operate a 10mph site limit which I would love to bring down to 5mph. 10mph is very hard to judge, particularly on FLT's which don't have a speedo, but 5mph is close to walking pace.

Posted By DP To all of you that have speed limits? How do you enforce them - do you have speed cameras? If you have no way to measure are they not just numbers?

Posted By John J You'd be surprised how difficult it is to judge the speed of a vehicle and, in my experience, larger vehicles look and sound faster than they are actually going. We use a Speed Indication Display (SID)to monitor our 20mph and 10mph speed limits, we also have calibrated Radar guns at our disposal if required. Penalties are: 20-30mph First offence Warning – (Remains on file for 12 months) Second offence Pass withdrawn for 3 months Third offence Pass withdrawn for 6 months + re-apply to waiting list (after ban ends) Fourth offence Pass withdrawn permanently 30+ First offence Pass withdrawn for 6 months + re-apply to waiting list (after ban ends) Second offence Pass withdrawn permanently As previous post says you need to be able to measure it before you can enforce it. Most of our roads are similar to offsite 30mph roads but with slow moving vehicles hence the 20mph. The 10mph is restricted to roads with additional hazards (blind spots, heavy pedestrian usage etc.) We don't apply 5mph as its almost impossible to measure (SIDs start at 10mph) and not easy to drive, Regards, John

Posted By David Bannister Thanks to all responders so far. Further comments very welcome.

Posted By Pete48 A few random thoughts about site speed limits. The lowest speed limit set for any public road is 20mph. In the UK speed limits must be in increments of 10mph. So 15, 25, 35 etc cannot be used on the highway. Vehicle speedos do not have to show anything less than 10mph increments. There are now provisions for "home zones" and "quiet lanes" on highways. These are specially marked areas with warnings to drivers that they might expect pedestrians etc to be in the highway and to drive accordingly. They are in addition to any speed limits imposed. It is clearly the drivers responsibility to drive safely according to conditions in such areas. From memory the 5mph limit is derived from the old Dead Slow. This term is rooted in other transport history. For example as the slowest speed at which a ship can still be safely manoeuvred, on the railway as meaning as slow as possible which was usually something akin to 4mph or less. All this shows that it was never meant to be used as a strict speed limit in the modern sense of road safety but more an indication that the environment or the driving tasks being undertaken required especial care. Food for thought then in whether to enforce or impose such limits. If one chooses to do so how would you justify a limit lower than the minimum 20mph on the highway? Are the risks much different if we are talking paved roads and yards? Would it not be better to outline a code that reinforces the specific dangers of the site to both pedestrians and keep the guidance in line with the highway code and transport law? The highway code not because it applies on private property but because it is the standard that we are all used to and should drive within anyway. If there is a limit then a driver can argue that they were driving within the limit. Dead slow means dead slow, the slowest speed at which it is possible to drive and maintain full control of the vehicle. It is a code not a limit. As I said just some random thoughts. I trust they will challenge the traditional view of impose and enforce.