Silly car question #39: how fast should I go on an on-ramp?

Wednesday, 1 August 2018

How fast should you go on an on-ramp? The same speed as the road you have come off, or the road you are going on to?

Are you one of those people who hits an on-ramp and hits the throttle at the same time? Or do you think a gradual increase in speed is a better option?

Or are you one of those awful and infuriating people who creep slowly all the way up and join traffic at a dangerously slow 60kmh? If you are, then just know that the rest of us hate you.

But what exactly are the speed rules around on-ramps (and off-ramps for that matter)? Are they some sort of grey-area transition zone for increasing (or decreasing) your speed to match the flow of the traffic on the road you are entering?

On-ramps generally have the same speed limit as the road they are feeding on to.

Can you get a ticket for doing more than 50kmh on a ramp that leads off or on to a road of the same speed?

**READ MORE

You should use the on-ramp to get up to the open road speed, or the speed of the flow of traffic if it is busy.

* Is it OK to swap lanes all the time on the motorway?

* Why do we drive on the left side of the road?

Off-ramps will also have the same speed limit as the road you come off, until you see that 50 sign.

* Do you have to indicate at a mini-roundabout?**

According to the NZ Road Code you should use an on-ramp to change your speed to match the speed of the motorway traffic, using the whole length of the on-ramp to adjust your speed and not changing speed suddenly just as you enter the motorway.

The speed limit applies from where the signpost or overhead signage is - that is where the speed limit changes and people should not go above the speed limit prior to passing that signage, according to a NZ Police spokesperson.

Generally, most on-ramps have the speed signage at the start of the on-ramp and the end of the off-ramp, meaning that the speed limit is the same as the road you are feeding on to (in the case of on-ramps) or off from (in the case of off-ramps).

This means that creeping up the on-ramp at 50kmh is not necessary and entering the flow of traffic on a motorway at that speed is actually dangerous, not to mention extremely inconsiderate.

Likewise, slamming on your brakes to get down to 50kmh as soon as you hit an off-ramp is equally unnecessary, dangerous and inconsiderate.

In short; on- and off-ramps speeds are about common sense more than anything else. They have generally have the same speed limit as the motorway and on-ramps should be used to get up to speed quickly and efficiently to safely join the flow of traffic.