When passing road works on a smart motorway with closed lanes, what is the correct way to return to normal driving?

For example a four lane motorway with three lanes closed with red X signs. Lanes 1, 2 and 3 are blocked by cones. The cones are still being placed from the cone truck.

The outside lane is open to traffic with a 40mph speed limit shown on the overhead gantry.

As I understand it, until the overhead signs show a national speed limit sign, the restrictions still apply.

Once past the cone truck, most cars seem to return to normal speeds and lane usage as the road is clear.

The national speed limit sign marking the end could be a few miles down the road after this.

Am I right that all traffic is supposed to stay in the outside lane at 40mph, until they have passed the sign marking the end of restrictions?

Sitting at 40mph in lane 4 at night on an otherwise clear road seems plain dangerous when other cars are trying to return to normal speeds.

 

As I see it you stay at the previous restrictions until overhead signage says otherwise. I unfortunately had a driver awareness course and that is how it was portrayed.

That's a good question and the answer is open to interpretation or misinterpretation. 

Unfortunately the folk who operate the gantry signs need training to keep their eyes on their screens watching the progression of the cones being laid out.

Even on driver awareness courses the 'instructors ' get it wrong and I've proved one wrong a few years back.

If its safe to do so once you've passed the cone laying vehicle and you can't see a gantry ahead of you then speed up to the motorway speed limit. If you can see a gantry ahead still with the 3 X's in the 1st 3 lanes and a 40 sign then stay in the outside lane at 40 until you see either a none illuminated gantry or a gantry showing the white circle with the black diagonal band.

There were no signs of any kind visible once I had passed the cone truck. It was a completely clear open road.

I moved back across to lane one as soon as it was safe to do so. I didn't accelerate back to 70mph at that stage. Plenty of other vehicles did. 70 in what is still possibly a 40 zone is enough for a possible driving ban if caught.

That was the point where according to the rules on paper, only lane four is still open and still restricted to 40mph until indicated otherwise. Sitting in lane four at 40mph at that stage would have been, in my opinion suicidally risky.

The next signs I saw were illuminated national speed limit signs indicating the end of the works zone.