I was quite surprised at the weekend, when one of my pupils started to speed up when he approached this dual lane raod. “Why are you speeding up?” I asked, “especially since there is a speed camera half way up the hill.”

“Because the speed limit is 70mph.” he replied. “Its a dual carraigeway in this direction.”

“It’s 60mph – this is not a dual carraigeway” I said.

Fortunately, my pupil responded swiftly, and brought his speed back to 60mph well before the speed camera.

Just in case anyone else out there isn’t sure, a dual carrieageway is defined by a road where the lanes in one direction are separated from the lanes in the other direction by a central reservation. Hence the road in the picture is not a dual carraigeway, and thereore the national speed limit is 60mph, not 70mph.

There is a moral for me here, never to take anything for granted in my pupils’ knowledge.

Stay safe folks.