– why do European trucks have multiple speed limit signs on the back of the trailer? For instance 70, 90, 100. How exactly does anyone checking it know which limit is applicable to what situation?
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In UK, different weight class have different limits, so for example on the motorway, the speed limit for a car is 70mph, but for a truck is 60mph (I think), by showing this at the back on the trailer, it’s tell the driver behind, that as a truck, I can only legally do 60mph, I CAN NOT go faster, so now the driver behind knows this, and can choose to overtake or whatever.
I always feel that a big part of those signs is to stop people getting mad at the driver. If you’re on a road that most people can go 60mph on but the truck is only going 50 you might get annoyed but if you know they legally can’t go faster then you don’t blame the driver.
As to why they have multiple: in the UK we have a fantastic system where some roads have set speeds: 20,40,50mph, and some roads are “national speed limit” which means 60 or 70 depending on the road, if it’s a single lane then it’s a 60 and a dual carriageway and larger are 70. The trucks are often limited legally on these roads to 50, 60 respectively. They also often show 64 which is 100kph as a limit – the truck has a device fitted making it impossible to go any faster than this.
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Italian example:
“Il primo segnale va posizionato nella parte posteriore sinistra del veicolo e rappresenta il limite massimo consentito nella strade extraurbane mentre il secondo,posizionato nella parte posteriore destra del veicolo,rappresenta il limite massimo consentito per quel veicolo in autostrada.”
So it’s only TWO signs: one (on the left) for the limit in rural areas (outside residential/urban areas) and the other one (on the right) is for the highway limit.
Truck driver sometimes add more if they are driving abroad, and honestly they simply don’t care much. Just throw a few more and nobody will complain.
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Because they’re mandatory in certain countries. For example in Belgium you need to have a sticker with 60 on it, France 90, Germany 80.
So if you drive all across Europe just slap everything from 50 to 90 on the back and the cops can’t give you a fine for that. They’ll find something else don’t you worry.
Source: European trucker.
> How exactly does anyone checking it know which limit is applicable to what situation?
Everyone knows the speed limits in their own country. So any official body tasked with checking speed limits will know when a truck is going too fast, nobody really needs the stickers on the back of a truck for that they are mostly just a legal thing.
In France speed limits are set according to the road type. Except if indicated otherwise, cities are limited to 50, common roads are 80 if it’s two way traffic, 90 if it’s split up traffic, roadways are 110 and highways are 130.
According to the section R413-8 of the “code de la route” you have different speed limits according to what you transport, and you have to have them displayed in he back to let other drivers know. For buses it varies depending of it’s a city bus or a seated bus. For trucks it’s 90 on the highway or on roadways and 80 on common roads. Transport dangerous goods and it falls to 80max on roadways and highways, and 60 on common roads. And there are subsets of those rules, the limit that applies is always the below
(if the road is limited to 90 and you have a truck with an 80 and a 110, it should drive at 80 etc)
Edit : truck speeds.
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