On Coronation Street recently they talked about driving on a 'dual carriageway'

Though i know or think that this is simply a divided highway i wonder why it's called a DUAL CARRIAGEWAY

Because on regular two lane roads two carriages can go - one one way and the other the other

Or does it mean that on a dual carriageway that two carriages can both drive in the same direction

A dual carriageway would then be a divided route with two lanes in each direction

what if it has three is it a trio carriageway

And why 'carriage' - these type roads did not exist in times when horse and carriages ruled the roads

are vehicles still call carriages

like this hop in the carriage and motor to IKEA?

Is a Motoroute or Motorway a dual carriage way - i think yes - is a dual carriageway necessarily a limited access highway as i think of motorways?

i was awake all night thinking about this question - help?

A duel carriageway is a two lane highway, similar to a motorway, but without the restrictions (e.g. learner drivers can use dual carriageways and also there may be exit filter lanes leaving the highway on the right hand side).

It's called a dual carriageway as it's got two lanes. We didn't have these until quite recently.

A dual carriageway is a divided route with two lanes in each direction.
Why it is called that I have no idea, other that that roads are still referred to as carriageways in legalspeak.
A motorway is also a dual carriageway in as much as it has (at least)two lane in each direction, but it is restricted so that learners, tractors, etc etc aren't allowed, whereas they are allowed on a dual carriageway.

It would seem that a novice driver would be better of on a controlled access Motorway than a Dual Carriageway that is not apparently controlled access as much

that kind of mystifies me why the difference

On a Motorway you get in the left lane and put on cruise control, right? Seems like the easiest driving - few surprises

Do they let old drivers drive on Motorways? Say Flanner types?

Single carriageway is an ordinary road, with only one lane in each direction and there is no reservation in the middle. Dual carriage has at least two lanes in each direction (there are some with 4 or 5 near big cities with heavy traffic) with central reservation. Motorway is a dual carriageway but specifically designated as Motorway, and special regulations apply - e.g. no learners (except HGV), motorcycle under 50cc, tractor, bicycle or pedestrian; no stopping (except on hard shoulder in emergency) and no reversing. Unless otherwise indicated, dual carriageway and motorway have a speed limit of 70mph for cars.

The crucial bit of this is that "carriageway" is a piece of legalese, first traced to an Act of 1800, meaning "a road intended for vehicular traffic" . As opposed to most roads at the time, which were intended for lots of other things.

The term "dual cariageways" (note the plural) was then used in technical contexts (like journals of road planning institutes) in the 1930s to describe a road with separated paths for the two directions. Somehow or other, this turned into "dual carriageway" in the singular by the 1950s.

"Highway", in the American sense, isn't used in English, so "divided highway" had never been an option. "Divided road" sounds weird.

BTW: If you want a quick death, using cruise control on a British motorway is about as reliable an option as you can imagine.

In fact, cruise control is probably the most useless device you can possibly have in Britain. I once had a slightly wonkly ankle and found it a handy way of accelerating or slowing down by just using my finger - but that's the only use I ever found for it.

PalenQ - That particular conundrum is one that has puzzled me as well.

A traffic policeman friend of mine tells me that, unlike in France, it isn't safe to drive at 80 mph on the motorway. Bizzare logic, but that's the law.

Take the M4 motorway in South Wales. You can drive from London at 70mph - everyone usually in the same direction (bit of a problem sometimes with the young folk of Newport), entering and exiting on the left.
You hit junction 49 at Pont Abraham and continue on the A48 Dual Carriageway to Pembrokeshire. Here you find tractors doing 10mph in the "fast lane" as they are exiting the A48 in the right filter lane to turn right and have other traffic entering the road from the right (usually in first gear at very slow speeds). Yet the police deem that this is just as safe as a motorway.

This is obviously bourne out by the large numbers of fatal accidents just east of Carmarthen.

"A traffic policeman friend of mine tells me that, unlike in France, it isn't safe to drive at 80 mph on the motorway. Bizarre logic, but that's the law."

Why bizarre? It's 10 miles above the maximum speed limit - why should one expect that to be safe?

Eh?
It is bizzare because a Frenchman is deemed to be safely travelling at 130kph (81mph) but the legal limit in the UK is 70mph because we're too dangerous to have the limit raised.

Surely you're not too much of a pedant to have deliberately mis-understood what I was trying to say?

Why do the powers-that-be consider it legal and safe to do 81mph on a French motorway (which has all the rules of the UK motorways other than speed) but it is deemed legal and safe to only go at 70mph on a UK motorway? And don't say volume of traffic because some of those riviera roads and the ones in the vicinity of Paris are equal to the M25.

Also, how is it as safe to travel at the same speed on a dual carriageway when you have traffic exiting and entering from both sides of the road and therefore have slower vehicles in the right hand lane attempting to get into a filter lane.

Clear enough?

Some European countries deviate from the 130kph limit for different reasons:

UK and Ireland have a 13kph lower limit for driving on the wrong side of the street and for still calculating in miles.

The Netherlands, Belgium, and Switzerland have a 120kph limit, so you won't drive either into the North Sea or into Italy if you forget to slow down your car in time.

Luxemburg has a 130kph limit. But it would not matter anyway how slow you go since you will be in France, Germany, or Belgium before you even know it.

Some of the Nordic countries have even lower limits at 100-110 kph to match the speed of your car to that of crossing elks.

Fortunatly you can buy a little book in the UK called the highway code which explains all this. To those who drive on UK roads I commend it to you and to those who drive a lot in the UK I double commend it.

No it is not a motorway. You'll be asking what a single yellow line means next.

single yellow line - ain't that the lane for motorcycles?

The whole safety thing is interesting, factors to take into account

1) UK one of the safest places to drive in Europe. With relatively low death rates on most measures
2) French motorways are mainly tolled and so not used by the majority of drivers hence the faster speed may well be safe
3) French speed limits vary with the weather (not a lot people know that) while in UK the weather is so bad...
4) The energy of impact is proportional to the square of the relative speed so 10 up on 70 is really 30% more energy

Finally as Dave Allan says 10% percent of all accidents take place with a person above the alcohol limit so keep all those sober people off the road!

There is an online version of the Highway Code at http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAn...code/index.htm

All questions may be answered there including stupid or faux naif ones

"It is bizzare because a Frenchman is deemed to be safely travelling at 130kph (81mph) but the legal limit in the UK is 70mph because we're too dangerous to have the limit raised.

Surely you're not too much of a pedant to have deliberately mis-understood what I was trying to say?

Why do the powers-that-be consider it legal and safe to do 81mph on a French motorway (which has all the rules of the UK motorways other than speed) but it is deemed legal and safe to only go at 70mph on a UK motorway? ... Clear enough?"

Sorry, but I still think it's a really odd thing to say that the fact that two countries have chosen to set different speed limits is "bizarre" (and as you already think I'm pedantic I might as well underline that by pointing out that you can't even spell the word correctly). Or do you think everyone should follow the same rules worldwide? American ones, perhaps? TBH I don't think a 70mph limit is truly "safe" but that's not the point.

Perhaps fuel consumption and not max safe speed should be the criteria

esp in very fouled air countries like France?