ADUK Archive

Hi all,

I drove a Ford Transit minibus today, and was a bit surprised to find it was limited at 62mph. Most of today's journey was on A- and B-roads, but the bit on the motorway was more challenging than I'd been expecting because I was alongside heavies for longer than I like, and my options for getting out of trouble when passing them (if there was any trouble) didn't include speeding up.

Has anyone got any idea why the minibus was restricted to a speed below its legal maximum?

David

Maximum speeds are set nationally, speed limiter speeds are set at European level.

That still doesn't explain it, unless you mean to say that there are two pieces of legislation on the books in this country, one derived from a European directive that says that the speed of a minibum should be limited to 100kmh, and one as part of the Road Traffic Act that says I may lawfully drive it at 70mph. And if that's the case, the law is in conflict with itself, but I can't override the conflict, even for safety.

David

I drove a minibus recently and I was told it was limited not for legal reasons but for insurance.

Minibuses are classed as PCVs so are regulated under the same rules as all PCVS including 17 passernger seats or over.

This is European Regulations, in fact minibuses get a bum deal because the euro regs state the speed limit at 100kph which is 62 mph, coaches are set to kph as the default so you get the full 100kph 62mph, your bog standard Transit is configured in the UK with MPH and you can only set the limiter in 5mph intervals so you only get 60mph or 98 kph, I have had Coaches overtaking me

However we even get a more bum deal because joe public thinks we can do 70mph in our glorified vans, the amount of times i have been abused for that by ignorant people. beacuse Ive had to spend 30 seconds overtaking someone doing 55mph, its very hard to get used to and a balance of making progress yourself and not holding anyone else up.

Howver there is a UK directive thingy to reduce the HGV and PCV speed limits down near to the limiters limits, the UK speed limits came in first.

I have however seen a minibus limited to 70 mph

Im all for it after seeing some of the ways voluntary minibus drivers drive.

Hi,

I wonder why joe public thinks minibuses are any different to vans, could it be that because the average van driver has no idea what his legal limits are, which makes people think we are going too slow when in fact all we are doing is driving to the limits?

One of our minibuses has a limiter (62mph) mine does not, I have no idea why except that mine never does motorway or even dual carriegeway work so chances are the issue has never arisen (or my boss does not want to spend money on a gadget which is not needed.

I agree with the bit about volunteer minibus drivers though, I reported our local cuommunity bus for tailgating me (in my minibus) for nearly 2 miles before blasting past and disapearing into the sunset...with passengers.

Funnily enough, never got a reply from the local council!

Ivor

Remember that a LGV or PCV fitted with a limiter cannot use the outer lane of a motorway with more than 2 lanes

kfae8959 wrote:That still doesn't explain it, unless you mean to say that there are two pieces of legislation on the books in this country, one derived from a European directive that says that the speed of a minibum should be limited to 100kmh, and one as part of the Road Traffic Act that says I may lawfully drive it at 70mph. And if that's the case, the law is in conflict with itself, but I can't override the conflict, even for safety.

David

Yes, two pieces of legislation.

Generally, in the case of conflict, newer legislation overrides older legislation and in any event legislation derived from an EU Directive overrides legislation that isn't. Perhaps the legislators should tidy up the books but it would not make any practical difference to what the law is.

foxtrot_mike wrote:.. your bog standard Transit is configured in the UK with MPH and you can only set the limiter in 5mph intervals so you only get 60mph or 98 kph

The Transits I have driven have an electronic box on the dash displaying the mileage (or kilometerage) and the speed of the vehicle in kp/h and I could drive at 62 so maybe it's down to how your bus is limited.

If you exceed 100kph on a motorway when fitted with a speed limiter (ie going down hill) you will not be penalized, unless you exceed 70mph of course.

The vehicle speed limiter legislation is not linked, or is the same as the to the road speed limit legislation.

A similar situation has existed with LGVs for many years. Speed limiter set at 85Kph (+/-5) and a national limit of 60mph on motorways. You just have to modify your driving and remember it is a limit, not a target.

kfae8959 wrote:That still doesn't explain it, unless you mean to say that there are two pieces of legislation on the books in this country, one derived from a European directive that says that the speed of a minibum should be limited to 100kmh, and one as part of the Road Traffic Act that says I may lawfully drive it at 70mph. And if that's the case, the law is in conflict with itself, but I can't override the conflict, even for safety.

David

I think (form my very limited understanding) that you've hit the nail on the head. There are two separate pieces of legislation at play, one from the EU and one from the Road Traffic Act - this is why coaches are limited to 62 despite being able to travel at 70 on motorways.

The EU legislation is for the vehicle and not for the speed limits of individual states

The RTA is UK law for speed limits