Useful information on Traffic Control and Road marking a car park, cycle lanes or business premises.

If you are planning to re-mark your car parking areas, then bay sizes may need to be slightly larger than those originally marked. Whilst there is no legislation governing the size of parking bays, the minimum width for a disabled parking bay is 3.6m and distance from a disabled parking bay to the building entrance must be no more than 50m if open-air or 100m if covered.

There is no legislation governing the size of parking bays, but a disabled parking bay must be 3.6 metres wide.

Disabled as well as Parent and Child parking bays must have a clear surface marking. It is recommended that 4% of total parking space plus 4 parking spaces is designated as disabled parking areas in public car parks.

A thermoplastic is a polymer that turns to a liquid when heated and hardens to a very glassy state when cooled sufficiently. Thermoplastics can go through melting/freezing cycles repeatedly and the fact that they can be reshaped upon reheating gives them their name. Therefore Thermoplastics are ideal for road marking.

Thermoplastic road markings can be applied by heating up the road marking transfer with a blowtorch.

When roadmarking cycle lanes it is important that the correct type of line is used. Cycle lanes are deemed mandatory where they are marked with solid white lines, or advisory where they are marked with broken white lines. If a cycle lane is roadmarked as mandatory then other vehicles are excluded for at least part of the day. When a cycle lane is roadmarked as advisory other road users can use them if necessary and may be allowed to park in them at certain times.

An advanced stop line reservoir at a signalled junction is a roadmarked and signed area (usually having a coloured surface with a thermoplastic cycle symbol in it), like a box in front of the stop line of traffic signals, which give cyclists a safe, visible area to wait, where they are segregated from other traffic. The stop line reservoir roadmarking allows cyclists to move ahead before other vehicles, making it safer for cyclists to turn left or right.

Road marking advanced cycle stop lines at traffic lights should make cycling easier!

Traffic planners at Wiltshire council removed the central white lines on 13 local roads in an attempt to find our if doing so would reduce the number of accidents. They claim that the experiment has been successful with accidents causing injury having fallen from 17 a year to 11 on roads without lines. Experts are not so convinced that removing roadmarkings is a good idea. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents believe that removing centre lines would not be appropriate on every road, and that very often centre line road markings combined with side lines also encourage drivers to slow down because the road appears narrower.

Health and Safety law dictates that traffic and pedestrian routes must be suitably indicated outside commercial premises. Clear signs and Roadmarkings must be provided to tell drivers and pedestrians about the routes they should use. Where signposts and roadmarkings are used, they should be constructed to Highway Code standards. You should make sure that any signs are kept clean and visible at all times.

Outside commercial buildings pedestrian routes must be clearly marked

You should use white road markings to regulate traffic, yellow Markings to regulate parking. Double yellow lines should be applied along the edges of routes where parking is not allowed, but do not rely on these to prevent parking in these areas without enforcement.

Road markings are usually applied as either a cement-based paint or as 'thermoplastic' markings. Thermoplastic markings have advantages over paint, but are slightly more expensive. Tyres can soon scrub away cement paint markings, whereas thermoplastic markings have a longer life because they grip the surface better. They also remain slightly raised for longer, making them easier to see and providing better grip for vehicles.

Thermoplastic road markings have a longer lifetime.

Markings are made reflective by adding tiny glass beads. These can be mixed into the marking material or dusted on the surface after it has been laid (or both). Thermoplastic markings are normally both premixed and dusted with beads, but painted lines are normally only dusted after they have been laid. As thermoplastic is gradually rubbed away by vehicle tyres, more beads are exposed, but when painted lines wear away the beads are worn away, leaving the markings unreflective.

Always re-new road markings when they fade. 'Road-lining' contractors often charge a call-out fee, so it is usually cheaper to have them lay as much as possible in one go. However, this is not a reason for waiting to refresh dangerously faded markings. Your local authority highways department should be able to provide a list of experienced and reputable contractors in your area.