On the Edge!

Imagine you are driving along a small cliff-top road.  On one side is a broad swathe of pleasant countryside, while on the other is a narrow meadow, beyond which you know there's a sheer drop to the rocky sea below.  Suddenly, an unseen hand removes both the meadow and its boundary hedge.  Imagine your feelings as you realise that, if you stray from the little lane you're following, you'll be over the edge and onto the rocks.  Something akin to these emotions has been swirling among us in recent days.

It all started when Martin, one of my fellow-drivers, received an advice through the post that he'd been caught speeding.  Not one to lay down easily, he asked for photographic evidence, and learned that he'd been doing 57mph on a de-restricted single carriageway.  Thinking that this was quite permissible, and that there must have been some mistake, he protested.  Through doing so, he opened up - and shared with the rest of us - a whole can of worms.

Now, most of us were aware that the big (i.e. Transit or Sprinter) vans are subject to lower speed limits than cars, and have to keep to 60 on dual carriageways and 50 on single carriageways.  We did, however, believe that, as small van drivers, we came under the same classification as cars.  Martin's experience has taught us otherwise.  He had received a little poster showing lots of pictures: vans of all shapes and sizes, and in pretty colours to make it 'pallatable'.  The narrative explained that such vehicles were all subject to these lower speed limits.  A number of us noticed that there was no picture of our particular van there, and we wondered why.

Someone was diligent and sought clarification on the internet.  It appears that the speed limits for goods vehicles are detailed  in the Road Traffic Regulation Act, 1984, which includes an exemption from the lower speed limits for a 'Car-derived Van', defined as 'a van derived from a car chassis, and having a maximum laden weight no more than 2 tonnes'.  This sent us racing for our registration documents, and finding with some relief that our particular vans have a maximum laden weight of 1,995 kg.  Uncertainty prevails, however, with the confusion of body type (car-derived van) and taxation class (light goods vehicle); and doubt as to whether or not it is officially accepted that - despite this declaration of body type - the chassis of our vehicle is in fact the same as a saloon.

Meanwhile some of us are learning afresh how to drive 'within the speed limit'!