A40 Westway

It seems the speed limit has been / is being reduced on this road to 30mph. For a week or so now the signs have been covered over with temporary 30mph signs, which I had attributed to road repairs etc, however this AM there were 30mph signs painted on the road from the Marylebone flyover heading West.

I only take this road as far as the Shepherds Bush turn off, so I’m not sure how long it remains 30mph.

I believe there have been a number of accidents involving bikers on this road so it might not be a bad thing and will hopefully reduce said accidents, but on the other hand it’s 3 nice wide lanes and 30mph does seem a bit slow for the road???

the 30mph stops just after the white city turn off then becomes 40mph again

It was built to be a motorway! the cut all the lighting as well apparently the locals didn’t like the light pollution.

I noticed that this morning too, absolutely ridiculous to make a road like that 30mph. I stuck to the 30 begrudgingly and everyone else was stilll going 50 + as there were still some 50 signs on show. They should do something properly if they’re going to do it…

It still turns back to 40mph when you come off the flyover into Acton. Same going the other way, but there it’s just temporary 30mph signs and there’s also still 50 signs… v confusing.

Next week it will be 15mph because there is a hedgehog farm which cannot be disturbed! :w00t:

I just cant do 30mph on this stretch of road!! Fortunately I will only have to use it for another 3 weeks as I’m changing jobs…then its 20 and 30mph roads all the way to work :crying:

SSSSHHHHHHHHHHH!!! You’ll wake them up.

I’ve seen several motorcycle accidents on Westway, so perhaps the road is not as safe as it feels to me, maybe its the traffic jams in the rushhours and lane cuttings. It is really nice road to be driving in and 50-60mph feels very natural speed for me.

30mph is a bit overkill in there, I would feel really stupid going so slow. Even today 99% were driving around 50mph, so unless they put traffic control over there, its not going to slow people.

I think better solution could have been some interactive speed signs that revert to 30mph when the traffic is more packed.

its a hazard to be driving at 30 mph on a bike down there in my opinion, cars will try to get passed you, and on a bike you are vulnerable, for example, going down a single lane road the other day, doing 30, about a 2 sec gap behind car in front, so car behind me suddenly decides he can fit between me and the car and rams past me… of course sailed straight past him at next set of lights, but if you were doing 30 down a road like this, you would have cars shoving past you all day long, the only hazard down there is people cutting in at the last minute to come off at white city, personally 40 and an average speed camera throughout would be the best system…

but 30 is crazy, people (not me of course ;)) quite often do triple that, and people will still try to, making it dangerous for anyone thinking of abiding the highway code…

I commute over the west way every day and feel really vulnerable doing 30 when everyone around is still going 50. I feel like a hazard with people zooming up behind me then swerving around and back in again.

Leaving some of the 50 signs up really does not help.

It certainly does not look or feel like it should be 30 there

Not quite true. One of the light poles rusted through and fell down into a lane very luckily not causing an accident. They removed the rest in case and then never installed new ones, most properly down to cost.

As for the accidents on that road, two bikers died within two days and an LB’er also lost his life a few years back.

It truly is the wild west on that road, bikers just as bad as the cagers. I would fully support SPECS cameras (rear facing) from the Marylebone flyover to the Northern roundabout.

“It truly is the wild west on that road”

Yup a lot of frustration being burned after the gnarly slog of Euston and then Marylebone Road.
The locals did not complain about the light pollution.
But I do not see it is really necessary for a 30 limit.
Eastbound the cars will still cut in at the last minute at the Paddington slip to avoid the jams further up.
Westbound it’s solid anyway in the evening, so the 40 after the Northern Roundabout is irrelevant anyway.

Yup, and I’m equally guilty of it. This morning I was on the bike and cars and bikes were still coming down at 70+ mph…over double the speed limit. One mobile camera and that would have been many licences lost today…!

I drove on the a40 today and it completely pissed me off, I usually ride at the speed limit and I dont even care what speed other people are doing
But today I was doing 35 and I felt in a dangerous position people going at 60 ish and I’m doing 35

And it put me in the wrong frame of mind to be riding later I was lane splitting more than normal and way too fast

But I did get home in half the time

I need a different way to get to heathrow now

it’s pretty bad how they have implemented this, having people confused whether to do 30 or 50 with some still doing 70 is not good

30 does seem overkill - the only part i have had trouble with is that paddington turnoff like someone said earlier, when people in the fast lane see the tailback from the flyover, brake harshly and cut across to take the exit

Does anyone know what the legal speed limit actually is? On the side heading west 30mph is painted on the road in several places butthere are no signs of any description along the carriageway. In the aesterly direction there are two temporary signs saying 30, one of which indiates that it refers to the limit in the ramp. But there are no limits painted on the road surface, nor any other signs.

If there are no signs indicating otherwise does not make the limit the national speed limit ie 60mph?

I think it would be wise to work on the basis that the 30 applies, ramp or not, until signs dictate otherwise. Still…hasn’t stopped anyone else from doing double and perhaps triple the limit!

Riding the road both ways, 3-4times a day, 5 days a week it does seem ridiculous that there is not a matrix system on the overhead gantries before the Northern Roundabout/Paddington slip roads letting motorists know that there is a que ahead with lane closure ability for accidents and debris in road just like on most of the M25. I know it’s a short road but the amount of traffic it deals with should really justify the cost of installation.

Feel really strongly about this…perhaps a demonstration is in order of some sort… :stuck_out_tongue:

The Westway was built in the late 60’s, so probably should be getting towards the end of it’s serviceable life. Nobody these days would advocate knocking it down and starting again. For one thing North Kensington is no longer a slum and all the rich twats who have moved in would not tolerate it.
So in all probability it will have to be a 30 (or less) limit in the future as it just crumbles away.
Imagine if it does fall down - what would the Bayswater and Harrow Roads be like?

This absurd speed limit featured on Top Gear last night. Apparently it is a temporary measure while maintenance is done underneath the flyover.

It is still not clear to me whether it has been implmented yet. Going East this morning I found a single temporary 30 MPH sign followed a little while later by one indicating 30 MPH on the ramp (where there are proper 30 mph signs anyway. Nothing on the carriageway and no further signs along its length!