Free Traffic Legal Advice

I live in the middle of a bit of Urban Sprawl, a couple of estates that have mingled together.
The whole area is a 20MPH zone, with the correct entrance signs at the start of every road leading in (to diagram 674 of The Traffic Signs Manual 2019 Chapter 3 https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5c78f895e5274a0ebfec719b/traffic-signs-manual-chapter-03.pdf) and regular speed humps within 100m of each other.


However, following resurfacing (when the humps were removed), one of the streets that enters the zone, which is 250m long, has no traffic calming measures from the list in TSM 2019 Ch3 8.7.1. within 100m of the entrance sign.



What does this mean for the zone?


Does the speed limit revert back to 30MPH only on this street between 50m from the entrance and 50m from the nearest traffic calming feature on the road that this one joins?

Does the entrance sign become non-enforceable due to non compliance with 8.7.1 (as if it didn't exist)  and it is therefore possible to enter the zone along this road and never see a 20 MPH sign to diagram 670 or a compliant entrance sign to 674, so  the whole zone is non-enforceable if it cannot be proved that you didn't enter along this street?


(The obvious solution is for The Council to come out and nail a couple of those "spinebreaker" plastic humps to the road less than 100m apart, but it has been several months since resurfacing)

Assuming that there is a TRO creating the 20MPH zone (I have no reason to doubt it exists) then to prosecute excess speed within the area covered by the TRO, there needs to be the correct signage in place to communicate that the speed limit is 20MPH within that area.

In the case of a 20MPH zone, this would be the entrance signs to diagram 674 and the existence of prescribed traffic calming measures such that all points on through roads within the zone are within 50m of one.

(A 20MPH limit would require terminal signs and regular repeaters to diagram 670- speed humps on their own are meaningless- I honestly have no idea if the TRO for a 20MPH zone would cover it's changing to a 20MPH limit)

TSM 2019 states that in order to use the entrance sign 674 it must comply with schedule 10 (of TSRG2016) which states that no part of a road within the zone (apart from a cul-de-sac less than 80m long) can be more than 50m from a traffic calming feature, measured along the road.



So it would seem to me that all of the entrance signs are defective because a single part of the zone does not have calming features, therefore the TRO is not communicated properly and an attempted prosecution for speeding anywhere within the zone could be successfully defended.


The alternative is that only the 250m street fails to communicate the TRO  due to missing/defective signage, so an attempted speeding prosecution within that street could be defended, but you could defend any prosecution within the zone if your claim to have entered via that street could not be disproved.



Am I correct?

I am arguing that the TRO restricting the area to 20MPH cannot be enforced due to signage that is defective/non-compliant with TSM/TSRG. (Caused by the lack of traffic calming in just one street of the zone)

I hadn't thought whether the 20MPH TRO would have removed the previous blanket 30MPH indicated by the compliant system of street lighting, I was suggesting that an attempt at prosecution between 25-30 MPH could be defended. If the 20MPH TRO cannot be enforced would that mean that any speed could be successfully defended?

If the 20MPH TRO cannot be enforced would that mean that any speed could be successfully defended?

If the TRO cannot be enforced I would imagine the road reverts to being a "restricted road" - i.e. subject to a default 30mph limit.