"Code for Design of Highway Speed ​​Limit Signs" will come into effect in November

Unified speed limit signs make highways more smooth

　　□ Our reporter Wang Yang □ Our reporter trainee Bai Chuxuan

　　A highway, as the name implies, is a highway that runs at high speed to achieve the purpose of smooth flow of things and smooth movement of people. Highway speed limit signs are important facilities to ensure road traffic safety and guide vehicles to drive smoothly. However, the high and low speed limit value of the expressway, the confusion of the speed limit signs, and the too close distance between the speed limit signs not only easily lead to vehicle violations, but also easily distract vehicle owners and affect safe driving.

　　To this end, the Ministry of Transport has recently issued the "Code for the Design of Highway Speed ​​Limit Signs", which details the division of highway speed limit sections, the demonstration of speed limit values, and the selection of speed limit methods. The specification will come into effect on November 1, 2020 .

　　"Dora is the original intention of the construction of the expressway. The high and low speed limit within a short distance will not only easily lead to driver violations, face unnecessary fines and deductions, but also be detrimental to driving safety." Experts interviewed by a reporter from the Rule of Law Daily believe that drivers always pay attention to speed limit signs and markings, causing distraction and more likely to induce traffic accidents. Therefore, the unscientific speed limit violates the original intention of the speed limit. The promulgation of the "Code for Design of Highway Speed ​​Limit Signs" strives to solve the problem of irregular speed limits and enhance the sense of achievement, happiness and security of drivers and passengers.

Freeway speed limit

Alleged to charge in disguise

　　Since the reform and opening up, the pace of my country's transportation infrastructure construction has been accelerating. As of the end of 2019, the national high-speed mileage reached 149,600 kilometers. Both mileage and technical standards have reached the world's advanced level. However, the speed limits of expressways across the country are different. Some have a speed limit of 120 km/h, some have a speed limit of 110 km/h, and some have a speed limit of 80 km/h.

　　Recently, when the driver Chen Jian drove along the Jingkun Expressway from Hebei into Shanxi, the speed limit for the previous tunnel was still 80 km/h, and the speed limit for the next tunnel with the same conditions less than 500 meters apart was changed to 70 km/h. In addition, he also found that the speed limit in the north section of the Jingkun River is 120 km/h, the tunnel is 80 km/h, and the speed limit in the Shanxi section is 100 km/h, and the speed limit is 70 km/h in the tunnel. The Beijing-Taiyuan section of this highway is basically the same in width, flatness, and bends, but there are two different speed limits.

　　According to statistics from the Ministry of Public Security, as of June 2020, the number of motor vehicles nationwide has reached 360 million, of which 270 million are cars; there are 440 million motor vehicle drivers, of which 400 million are car drivers.

　　Beijing lawyer Xiao Dongping told the reporter of the Rule of Law Daily that the high-speed speed limit was originally a measure to prevent dangerous driving and protect the road environment. However, in some places, there have been speed limit regulations that clearly violate the actual environment, and the "law enforcement economy" should play a role in it. Judging from the current laws and regulations, there is no specific stipulation on the speed of highway vehicles. Even if the speed limit is less than 60 km/h, it will not violate the rules. It is inevitable that some places will deliberately set thresholds to increase the amount of fines. Case. "The speed limit is actually no different from arbitrary fines. It just changes ways to legalize fines and increase the interests of relevant departments."

　　The members of the Standing Committee of the Zhejiang Provincial People's Congress said when reviewing the "Report on the Administration of Government Non-tax Revenue Collection" submitted by government departments that some traffic violations are suspected of "man-made traps," and drivers will be fined unconsciously. In some sections, the speed limit changes too quickly, leaving drivers at a loss. This is not so much the traffic police imposing restrictions to maintain traffic safety, it is better to say that the traffic police department is using the "speed limit card" as the "cash machine", which is actually charging in disguise.

　　Regarding the issue of regulating the "speed limit card" of expressways, Zhang Yunshu, a professor at the Law School of Anhui University of Finance and Economics, put forward three suggestions: First, separate the establishment of the speed limit card and not allow the traffic police department to be both a referee and an athlete. The density of “speed limit cards” should be established scientifically based on the road grade and actual road conditions, as well as the proportion of accidents caused by speeding; the second is to strictly enforce the two-line rules for fines and revenues, and cancel the regulations that use fines as the basis for assessment. Disconnect traffic police revenue from fines; third, finance provides necessary financial support to traffic police departments to reduce their income-generating pressure and impulse.

Prevent lenient and strict law enforcement

Uniform standards are imperative

　　The Road Traffic Safety Law stipulates that motor vehicles should bear legal responsibility for speeding and be subject to administrative penalties. Article 90 of the law stipulates that if a motor vehicle driver violates the road traffic safety laws and regulations on road traffic, he shall be given a warning or a fine of 20 yuan to 200 yuan.

　　However, regarding speeding penalties, the law also has a special provision, that is, the third paragraph of Article 99 stipulates that if a motor vehicle drives 50% of the prescribed speed per hour, a fine of 200 yuan to 2,000 yuan shall be imposed. How to implement specific enforcement within the range of penalties prescribed by the law? The Road Traffic Safety Law delegates the power to "specify specific implementation standards" to the standing committees of the people's congresses of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government, and they shall stipulate in accordance with the actual conditions of the region.

　　In other words, not all speeding behaviors are subject to scoring fines. In this sense, whether it is no penalty or fine for speeding below 20% in Hubei, no penalty for speeding below 10% in Anhui, or fine for speeding in Hunan, there is no problem in law. It can be said that this is traffic. The discretion of law enforcement agencies is legal, reasonable and impeccable from the perspective of legal provisions and law enforcement.

　　According to Hu Gongqun, a legislative consultant of the Standing Committee of the Beijing Municipal People’s Congress, from a legal point of view, a unified "penalty point" is a basic requirement of the principle of statutory punishment in administrative law, and different penalties are imposed on the "penalty point" according to different circumstances. The type and specific range belong to the category of discretion. Only when the "penalty points" are unified can the public abide by the law and avoid being overwhelmed when driving. At the same time, this is also conducive to preventing lenient and strict law enforcement and effectively safeguarding the authority and dignity of national laws.

　　The speed limit problems on expressways include the fluctuations in the speed limit value, the random setting of speed limit signs, and the inconsistent standards of various regions, which have also attracted the attention of the CPPCC National Committee members.

　　On August 18 this year, the "Letter on the Reply to Proposal No. 0618 of the Third Session of the Thirteenth National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference" (hereinafter referred to as the "Reply Letter") published on the website of the Ministry of Transport disclosed the reply of the Ministry of Transport to the members of the CPPCC National Committee. The specific content of Cai Xiaohong's "Proposal on Improving Expressway Speed ​​Limit Management".

　　Regarding the speed limit on expressways, the Ministry of Transport introduced in the "Reply Letter" that there are two main reasons: First, the division of speed limit sections, the determination of speed limit values, and the selection of speed limit methods do not strictly implement the speed limit standards. In 2017, the national standard "Road Traffic Signs and Markings Part V Speed ​​Limits" was released, which specified the basis, considerations, and speed limit gradients for determining the speed limit value, but it was not strictly enforced in some places. The second is the failure to properly handle the relationship between safety and efficiency. For a few special road sections with restricted conditions, such as long and steep downhills, extra-long tunnels, and road sections with special adverse weather effects, it is necessary to select a lower speed limit value to ensure safe operation, but for a large number of highway sections with good technical conditions If the speed limit is still low, it will affect the efficiency of vehicle traffic. "

　　In order to solve the above problems, the Ministry of Transport pointed out in the "Reply Letter" that the transport department summarizes relevant practices in recent years, organizes experts from all parties to conduct investigations and studies, considers the needs of all parties, according to the division of responsibilities, enhances the service concept, takes effective measures, and works together Promote problem solving.

Many provinces and cities have issued regulations

Focus on solving the speed limit problem

　　Compared with ordinary highways, expressways should travel faster. If the expressway is restricted to less than 80 km/h, it is equivalent to paying for high-speed roads, but traveling on non-high-speed roads is unreasonable.

　　During the interview, Guangdong Zhongshan driver Long Zhou told the reporter of Rule of Law Daily that in order to drive safety and reduce the risk of speeding, the speed limit of many expressways generally does not reach the legal limit of 120 km/h, and 80 km/h or even lower. Speed ​​limits are not uncommon. The original intention of "lowering down" the speed limit as much as possible is understandable, but the speed limit at any time is 80 km/h or even 60 km/h, which is almost the same as ordinary roads, so why bother to build highways?

　　Guo Zeqiang, a professor at Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, said that whether expressway speed limit standards are wide or strict, how they are set and what specific criteria are based on them are often ambiguous in reality. Many expressways with very low traffic volume and excellent traffic conditions have very low speed limits; while some expressways have already been highly saturated or even overloaded. In fact, they have long been unable to achieve "high speed", but the speed limit standards are very low. It remains unchanged for a long time, and still maintains a high level of departure from reality. "While paying attention to safety, the traffic management department should give full consideration to its high-speed traffic efficiency and reasonably determine the speed limit standards."

　　The reporter of "Rules of Law Daily" sorted out and learned that many provinces and cities across the country have issued regulations focusing on solving the problem of expressway speed limits:

　　Starting from January 1, 2020 in Hubei, 68 expressways have increased their speed limit values: Most expressways in the province have begun to increase speed, and the maximum speed limit will increase by 10-20 km/h depending on the situation. For sections with the original speed limit of 100 km/h, in principle, it will be increased to 110 km/h; for sections with the original speed limit of 110 km/h, in principle, it will be increased to 120 km/h.

　　Starting from May 1, 2020, Gansu has implemented the "lower limit and higher limit" in consideration of safety and efficiency. The speed limit of highway tunnels is set at a design speed of 80 km/h; the maximum speed of passenger cars is 120 km/h and the minimum speed is 60 km/h; the maximum speed of other motor vehicles is 100 km/h and the minimum speed is 60 km/h.

　　Guangdong set up a warning sign before the speed measurement point to increase the speed limit value. Among them, the speed limit value of small vehicles on some sections of expressways such as Guangzhou-Shenzhen Riverside, Guanghui, Guangsan and other highways has been increased from 100 km/h to 120 km/h; it is stipulated that the location of fixed speed measurement points must be erected 500 meters to 1000 meters ahead. If the same motor vehicle is driving in the same direction on the same road section and has multiple speeding violations recorded by fixed or mobile speed measurement equipment, in principle, only one fine will be imposed.

　　Shanxi completed the rectification of speed limit signs for tunnels and key sections of the province on May 10, and completed the rectification and improvement of speed limit signs for provincial highways and first-level national and provincial trunk highways by August 1, focusing on solving the problem of "cliff Unreasonable speed limits such as "concealed".