Latest efforts to remove unnecessary road signs have been announced by the Department for Transport, with launch of a taskforce led by Sir Alan Duncan MP and an industry consultation.

 

But one prominent local government representative said a previous road sign review in the last Parliament did not go far enough and called for the new review to develop more ambitious proposals.

 

Local Authority Technical Advisors Group former president Phil Moore said the 2011 traffic signs review by former Transport Minister Norman Baker barely “touched the surface”. He called for Sir Alan Duncan to push forward significant reform to allow for extensive decluttering and for a change in requirements concerning sign illumination.

 

“I would like to see a fundamental review of the historical set of traffic sign regulations and substantial changes to allow for an extensive declutting,” he said. “At some junctions drivers are overwhelmed with information that they either can’t take in or just ignore – making the regulations a liability for safety.”

 

Mr Moore added that he would like to see major changes over road sign illumination requirements. In his local authority of Medway, there are around 7000 street signs of which 2000 are illuminated. “I would say that 40% of the 7000 road signs are superfluous and that we could do away with illuminating around 1500 of the 2000 signs,” he said. “In this day and age there is a magnitude of reflective road sign material which is self illuminating.”

 

Government’s latest traffic signs review was launched on Friday and runs until 6 October. Measures being considered include ensuring that some temporary road signs have a ‘remove by’ date, making sure traffic signs are visible on unlit roads and that signs are not cluttered with adverts and distracting logos.

 

Sir Alan Duncan said: “I am delighted to lead this initiative. The UK has erected thousands of road signs which are completely unnecessary. We are going to look at how we might get rid of whole categories of unnecessary signs and improve the look of our roads and streets.”

 

Sir Alan Duncan’s taskforce will present its recommendations to Government by December.

 

(Photo: RAC)