Speed limit 25

What it means

This sign sets the maximum lawful speed for the stretch of road it governs, in ideal conditions. The number is not a suggestion, a target or a guarantee of safety at every moment; it is the ceiling the law allows when visibility, surface and traffic are good. In Colorado, exceeding a posted limit is a traffic infraction, and the limit continues to apply past the sign until a different limit is posted or the road character changes to a zone with a statutory default. The vertical rectangle with black-on-white numerals is the standard form for posted limits.

How it gets misread

Drivers often treat the number as the speed they should hold in all conditions, including rain, fog or heavy pedestrian movement. It is also sometimes read as applying to the next block only. The limit persists along the whole road until changed, and conditions can make a lawful speed still unsafe.

What to do

Travel at or below the posted number when conditions are good, and adjust further downward when they are not. Do not use the sign as an excuse to match faster traffic; the limit applies to you regardless of what others do. Watch for the next change of limit, because signs govern stretches, not single spots, and the new number takes effect where the new sign stands.

More regulatory signs

• School speed limit 20 →
• No left turn →

Browse all road signs