Before the sun even peeked over the horizon, we merged onto the M6, embarking on our daily journey to work amidst the inky remnants of night. Where once vibrant dawns greeted us weeks earlier, now our morning drives were shrouded in impenetrable darkness as summer’s glow dimmed.
A fine rain misted down from above, the headlights and taillights ahead blurring into a luminous haze on our windscreen – a rather gloomy day. But even as inclement weather peppered our path, it did nothing to deter the relentless pace of commuters. Predictably, we could see signs of build-up between Junction 10a (M54) and Junction 9 (Wednesbury), a notorious bottleneck when travelling southbound.
In response, motorway officials had wisely capped the speed limit at 60mph in hopes of breaking the bottleneck. The new limit glowed prominently in angry red across the gantries, spanning the ever-busy lanes. Still, did that prompt drivers to ease their foot off the pedal? Hardly.
Ignoring the bold warnings overhead bar a few disciplined drivers and a heavy goods vehicle sticking to the inside lane, many vehicles breezed by at breakneck speeds topping 70mph, dismissive of penalties or highway cameras laying in wait.
Let’s not forget what the Highway Code has to say about it – quite explicitly, its Rule 261: “On some motorways, mandatory motorway signals (which display the speed within a red ring) are used to vary the maximum speed limit to improve traffic flow. You MUST NOT exceed this speed limit.”
This is a simple but oft-ignored commandment for today’s road warriors.