Page:Report of the Departmental Committee on Traffic Signs (1946).djvu/64

 Portable light signals for temporary traffic control

177. The Minister has authorised the use of temporary traffic light signals “for use for the purpose of controlling traffic where road works are in progress or where, for some other reason, the width of the carriageway is temporarily restricted so that-it will carry only one line of traffic.” The authorisation permits of the use of red, amber and green lights, or of red and green only, and specifies requirements as to size and position of lenses. The electrical and optical design and performance must be approved by the Department. We recommend continued authorisation of signals of this type for use on appropriate temporary occasions, e.g. in the circumstances referred to in paragraph 31.

Advance warning sign

178. Normally an advance warning sign should not be necessary at permanent traffic light installations, but where in exceptional cases (e.g. an isolated installation in open country or where an approach to the installation is blind) an advance warning sign is required, it should be of the form recommended in paragraph 64 and shown in diagram 42 of Appendix VI.

Existing markings

179. When the present system of marking pedestrian crossing places (beacon and studs) was authorised it was intended that the beacon should serve primarily to draw the attention of the pedestrian, though, of course, it would also be of value to the vehicle driver in indicating the position of the crossing. It was thought that the studs in the carriageway would be the more important marking from the vehicle driver’s point of view. We consider that these forms of marking are now so well established and so widely known that it would be undesirable to make any radical change.

Illumination of beacon

180. It is our view, however, that the beacon should be the main indication to all road users of the location of a crossing. We do not recommend any change in the form of beacon, but we recommend that the orange globe should be internally illuminated during the hours of darkness in all cases and that the British Standards Institution be asked to draw up a standard specification for translucent globes of suitable materials.

Carriageway markings

181. The illumination of the orange globe will reduce the necessity for carriageway markings except to such extent as these markings may be required to define the actual area of the crossings. We considered representations that studs of the form now authorised constitute a dangerous obstruction on the carriageway and that a special surface laid down across the whole width of the crossing, and contrasting in texture and colour with the adjacent road surface, would be more conspicuous and would cause no physical obstruction. This, however, would render standardisation difficult, on account of the varying texture and colour of road surfaces, and we therefore recommend that :

(a) Studs of the dimensions now authorised should continue to be used to define the area of the crossing, but should be white only. (See remarks in paragraph 153 about the interpretation of “white.”)