The number of traffic signs on Britain’s roads has soared from 2.45 million in 1993 to over 4.6 million today, an increase of 111.5%. Last year, the Government published the Reducing Sign Clutter guidance and as a result councils across the country have already removed thousands of unnecessary and costly road signs.
However, it is fair to say that there is still an excessive amount of traffic signs in our villages, towns and cities. Over the years, these have been added with the best intentions but before long, it has become a clutter of messages that is confusing for motorists, cyclists and pedestrians and can even have a negative impact on road safety.
In recognition of this, the Department for Transport (DfT) has proposed a new Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions (TSRGD) Statutory Instrument which is due to come into force during 2015. This will give local councils and highways authorities much more discretion and flexibility in how and where they place traffic signs. The changes also include proposals for clearer road markings and new low level signals for cyclists, which will help improve safety on the road.
Traffic signage has always been something of a complex art. The first modern edition of the TSRGD was introduced in 1964 and while this brought about nationalised road sign standards, local authorities have had to follow complex documentation to work out which traffic signs must be used in any given situation.
The new proposed TSRGD incorporates all regulations relating to traffic signs in one consolidated document, with a menu system providing more flexibility and ease of use. Authorities will save money because they simply won’t require the sheer volume of signage. For example, the proposed TSRGD removes the strict rules dictating how many signs must be placed and at what intervals, reducing the need for repeaters.
One of the biggest areas of cost saving will be through the significant relaxation of the rules on sign lighting. At the moment many regulatory and warning signs must be lit if they are sited within 50 metres of a street lamp forming part of a system of street lights. This is a large area of expenditure for local councils and will be considerably reduced under the new TSRGD, which will only require lighting on signs that are safety critical. Cost savings will be realised not only from the reduced energy costs of illuminating less signage but also because it is much cheaper to install non- illuminated signs.
In its TSRGD impact report, the DfT estimates that the cost to local authorities of illuminating each sign is £8.17 per year and the cost of installing an unlit traffic sign is estimated to be £389 cheaper than installing an illuminated sign. They estimate that as a result of the relaxation in rules, local authorities will choose not to illuminate 25 to 50% of new signs and that 25-50% of the existing stock of signs will have lighting removed.
These changes have led to some concern that there could be a possible increase in legal challenges against councils, e.g. residents complaining about being caught for speeding as a result of councils removing speed restriction repeater signs.
However, no-one is recommending that local authorities take down signs and switch off lights to save cost without thinking about safety considerations. Rather it means that highways authorities and local councils will need to do a risk analysis and decide whether reducing signage or illumination would have an impact on safety. In fact, in some cases there are signs that, if removed, would actually improve road user experience.
The new TSRGD will also remove some of the administrative burden on local authorities by almost removing the requirement for traffic sign authorisations from central government, apart from for large events like the Olympics for example. The DfT estimates that as a result, local authorities could avoid 100 authorisation requests per year, making an admin saving of £363 -£467 per request.
In the past, there have been as many as 500 requests for special sign authorisations to the Secretary of State each year. This shows that the existing TSRGD is reactive and doesn’t promote the innovative and creative solutions that are needed for local authorities to be able to implement their own traffic management schemes effectively. The new TSRGD recognises this and removes many of the regulatory barriers to the design of traffic signs. vThis means there will be less constraint on what can appear on parking signs for example and traffic engineers will be able to pick from a menu of messages to suit their needs. This type of flexibility will help authorities to be more innovative about the way they manage their own roads to reduce traffic congestion.
For example, there will be more freedom for councils to design parking signs with the information needed, such as what times of day people can park in certain areas, to ensure better traffic flow at peak times and maximise parking provision at other times.
While the Department for Transport intends it to come into force in March 2015, there is no definite date for the launch of the new TSRGD and we are still waiting for the formal DfT response to the consultation, which ended in June. Traffic engineers and sign designers alike must be aware that until the new TSRGD becomes law at some point next year, the current version still stands.
In the meantime, local authorities should be mindful of a more immediate piece of signage regulation, which requires the replacement of local direction signs with blue borders by the end of 2014. These were originally discontinued in 1994 with a 20 year timescale for removal but there are still many visible on the highways.
Councils and highways authorities need to check that there are no blue border local direction signs remaining and if there are, they need to be removed or replaced by the end of December 2014.
Will Baron is product director at traffic management software company Keysoft Solutions.
