In most cases, I'd agree. And bear in mind I'm not generally condoning speeding in roadworks, but I should be able to do the speed limit, unimpeded by people who are not driving properly or considerately. I'm not expecting people to speed up to get round another car - maybe drop half a mph so that they can slot in behind it. What really peeves me is when a driver sits in the outside, or even the middle lane doing less than 40 (according to GPS which, on a straight and level road, is far more accurate than the typical speedo) matching the exact same speed of the car to its left for the entire length of the roadworks with a long stretch of clear road in front of them. The fact that the clear stretch exists suggests that they're travelling at below the average speed of all traffic, yet they're sitting in the outside lane and deliberately blocking other people.
This is antisocial behavior. It's driving without due consideration to other road users. It's an offence which carries the same points and fine as a speeding ticket if you're caught (not that the authorities are interested in anything other than speeding these days.) As I said before, two wrongs don't make a right.
What's also annoying me is this slow and sneaky shift from 50 being the normal limit for motorway roadworks down to 40. I think we've got to the stage now where there are more 40's than 50's, and I think the 50 limits will ultimately disappear. At that point, the 30's will no doubt start to pop up. Does anyone really fancy driving along a motorway with a SPECS enforced 30mph limit? Given the tailback that the 40 limit near Runcorn is causing (often as far back as the beginning of the M56 in rush hour) it'd be disasterous for traffic flow. But somehow I suspect that's all part of the 'anti-car' master plan. Either that or they know people will have more trouble sticking to 40 than 50, and the extra revenue from fines will go some way towards offsetting the cost of the roadworks.
As for safety, let's go for my favourite example. The Thelwall works that had a SPECS enforced 40mph limit for several years. There were at least a couplle of things wrong with this set-up.
1) The old bridge was only open to traffic leaving at (I think) Junction 21, yet the 40 limit was applied to both the old and new bridges. The new bridge had a contraflow with a concrete centre barrier, but no workforce on that bridge at all. Exactly who or what was the 40 limit there to protect? Why couldn't it have been 50 like most contraflows used to be?
2) The 40 limit Northbound extended well beyond the end of the bridge, coincidentally to the next motorway sign gantry, which they could conveniently mount the last SPECS camera on. The national speed limit could have been introduced some distance earlier, but they were lazy when it came to placing the cameras.
I was driving this route twice a day as part of my commute. I dread to think of the number of hours of my life it must have cost me, but I'm sure you could measure it in days. At least shaving a couple of minutes off the journey meant at least I wasn't getting home quite so late. I was happy to do the speed I knew I could get away with, as there was no danger to the workforce and a solid barrier between both lanes of traffic.
I suspect many people who are tolerant of motorway roadworks haven't spent quite so much time in them as I have