Whether on the open road or in suburban streets, limits exist for the safety of road users and pedestrians.

However, along with the regular posted limits, motorists are often confronted by temporary roadworks limits, which can slow traffic from 100km/h to 40km/h - sometimes for a considerable distance.

This can be irksome but, again, they are there to protect road users and, importantly, workers going about their business of repairing or improving the roads for us.

There have been many accidents involving road workers who, after all, cannot be expected to concentrate on their job, often surrounded by noisy machinery with its own dangers and, at the same time, watch for cars travelling

through their workplace at speed.

These limits are legally enforceable - frustratingly, even after work has ceased for the day and everyone has left the area.

This is an area of traffic management that has needed attention for some time.

So, the decision by the state government to put in place a new Traffic Management Code of Practice from September 1 with stricter guidlines on the use of roadwork speed limits is to be welcomed.

It is a commonsense approach to the problem and one which should be able to be easily implemented.

The move is bound to be popular with motorists - something which can't hurt a state government facing an election in a few months.

Under the guidelines, only in exceptional circumstances will roadworks speed limits be more than 20km/h below the normal posted limit and there will be greater VicRoads surveillance of speed zones.

Contractors who fail to meet the new standards could face being excluded from bidding for future projects. So it will be in their interest, and ours, to see that the traffic flows smoothly.

It should be noted, however, that this should not be taken as carte blanche to leadfoot it through work areas, especially at night.

It is the first rule of road safety that one should always drive to the conditions.