FEATURE SIGNS REVIEW change WINDS T
raffi c signs have undergone a recent transformation. Now the dust has settled, it’s a good time to review what have we gained so far from the Traffi c Signs Policy Review. The Review itself resulted in a 90-page policy document Signing the Way (available on the Department for Transport (DfT) website:
www.dft.gov.uk) published last October. This contained a whole raft of aspirations for the future, most of which would need to wait several years for a new Traffi c Signs Regulations and General Directions (TSRGD) – but with a number of innovations capable of being introduced more rapidly. Many of the changes appeared fi rst in draft regulations and then came into force on 30 January this year in an amendment to TSRGD. This introduced signs for measures such as restricted parking zone, permit parking area, car club parking and spaces for charging electric vehicles. Many of these signs are already commonly seen in towns and tourist areas.
New route needed
Amendment regulations take around two years to come to fruition, so a new route had to be found to introduce other urgently- needed new signs. The DfT hit upon the idea of issuing area-wide authorisations to every authority in England. These make use of the Secretary of State’s power to authorise traffi c signs not in the regulations, but at the initiative of the DfT rather than in response to a specifi c application. There have now been four sets of such authorisations, introducing signs for pay-by-phone parking,
28 JUNE 2012 of
Following a whirlwind of changes to traffi c signs, Simon Morgan asks: ‘What have we gained from the DfT Traffi c Signs Review?’
loading only areas, footway parking bans, rising bollards, more options for bus lanes and many combinations of signs for varying permitted uses of the kerbside at different times of day.
Most radical (and unexpected) in the
mass authorisations was the relaxation of the need for two terminal signs at the entry to a parking zone Simon Morgan
Most radical (and unexpected) in the mass authorisations was the relaxation of the need for two terminal signs at the entry to a parking zone or to almost any other regulatory measure. Only speed limits, and, somewhat surprisingly, the new Permit Parking Area, continue to need a pair of signs at their start point. Another major fl exibility relates to indicating parking bays on the carriageway. No longer do you need white markings, as there is the option to indicate a bay with surfacing or pavers ‘contrasting in colour or appearance with the surrounding carriageway’, although it must still conform to the size requirements of the normal marking. Unfortunately the mass-authorisations have been poorly communicated to traffi c engineers and parking managers. DfT sent notices to council leaders and chief executives, but in some cases they are slow to fi lter down. However, the DfT website now has copies of all traffi c sign authorisations made since January 2011.
Still room for improvement There is much still to come, either from further mass authorisations or from a new TSRGD, promised for 2014 ‘at the earliest’. For on-street parking, there will be new wordings permissible and more options to make signs easily understood and adaptable to the needs of individual authorities. SM
ABOUT the AUTHOR: Simon Morgan is chairman of Buchanan Computing and leads the Institute of Highways Engineers’ traffi c signs committee
www.britishparking.co.uk
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