I was travelling on the A41 between Bicester and Aylesbury for the second time in a week and once again noticed that there were signs for Loose Chippings and text advising ‘Skid Risk’ with ‘Max Speed 20mph’. The road has recently been given a new top dressing of stone chippings.

Skid Risk
Skid Risk
Max Speed 20mph

It got me thinking about the reasons for the signs to be there:

The most obvious explanation is that there must be a skid risk combined with the risk of flying loose chippings (which is what the graphic means according to the Highway Code) and that for safety the maximum advised speed is 20mph.

However, nobody was going at 20mph. Clearly, we’re all reckless.

I wondered why the road repair contractors had left the road in such a dangerous state that the maximum safe speed was 20mph. Surely it’s rather a bad thing to leave a road in such a dangerous condition? Under normal circumstances if something like a spillage occurs which can cause a skid risk it’s cleaned up as quickly as possible. But this had been done deliberately.

I then wondered why the council responsible for the road had allowed the contractor to leave the road in such a dangerous state that the maximum safe speed was apparently 20mph.

Perhaps the council had not permitted it and the contractor had left it in that state without their authority? I wonder what the consequences for the contractor will be if that is the case? Surely they will never win another contract from the council?

Then again, perhaps the contractor did have permission from the council to leave the road in that state. In which case which person or group within the council gave that permission? I wonder what the contract with the road repair company looked like? ‘We the road menders will spray a bit of tar on the road and then tip a load of chippings on it. The road will be so dangerous for at least a week that drivers should not exceed 20mph. You the council will pay us loads of money but not quite as much as if we had actually repaired the road’. OK: nobody would be so stupid as to sign a contract like that.

I then wondered what would happen if (say) as many as 1 in 50 drivers did slow down to 20mph as advised. I actually think that many of the other 49 would attempt to overtake them. I almost succumbed to the temptation to try it. However, as this is a main road with plenty of traffic I imagine that large tailbacks would form behind the observant drivers and that much frustration would build in many of the rest. Much overtaking on a busy road, significant levels of frustration among many drivers - it sounds damned dangerous to me.

I then wondered if perhaps the contractor did not actually expect drivers to slow down to 20mph. Ah! This begins to make more sense. Perhaps it’s just one of those catch-all disclaimers. Yes, we’ll have to add this to the contract: ‘If any accident occurs after the works are concluded then if it’s related to a driver doing more than 20mph it’s not our fault’. ‘Sign here please…’ No, surely not? But hold on a sec… what happens if a driver actually has a significant accident on that road and they were doing more than 20mph? Or a person is injured by a driver doing more than 20mph? Is that driver going to get done for driving without due care and attention or reckless driving?

Hmm… Maybe the council doesn’t really expect drivers to slow down to 20mph either? But that means that they’re happy for speed signs to be put up which they know will be ignored… advisory, not mandatory signs admittedly. What the hell is the point of putting up signs that you expect to be ignored? Maybe they just want drivers to slow down a bit? Maybe from 60 (national limit for standard cars on that type of road) to 50 or even to 40mph? But perhaps experience tells them that such signs are ignored - I wonder why that would be?

By the time I reached this thought I was past the ‘resurfaced’ area - not that there was a sign to advise that more than 20mph might now be safe. Doesn’t time fly when you’re having fun?

21 Jun 2016: Almost a year later and the same stretch of road has had yet another top dressing of chipped stone added and those ridiculous signs put up. Yesterday I was caught in a long queue of traffic following someone who was apparently observing the signs - it wasn’t me, honest! As I got closer to the head of the queue I could see vehicles pulling out to overtake the slow car in what looked to me like very narrow gaps in the oncoming traffic - rather risky behaviour. My progress through the queue was about 25mph so it would appear the guy at the head of the queue was probably doing the specified 20. I’m ashamed to say that I was rather amused to see that because vehicles were accelerating hard to overtake in narrow gaps and moving out into the central area of the road where excess loose stone had accumulated his car was visibly getting hit by flying chips. Fortunately, we reached a junction where the slow guy left my intended route before I had to decide whether, when or where to overtake.