Driver location signs

A driver location sign (large and blue) and a distance marker post (smaller, with a red reflective stripe) on the A38 in the West Midlands

Driver location signs are English highway route markers, first introduced in 2003, that complement distance marker posts. Both types of marker post display the distances from a nominal (as opposed to a physical) start point in kilometres. Driver location signs are designed to be read by motorist when, for instance, then need to passing details to the emergency services while distance marker posts are designed for administrative purposes.

Distance marker posts

Since at least 1980, major dual-carriageway roads (including motorways) have had distance marker posts installed at 100-metre (110 yd) intervals.^[1][2] These posts are used to help identify road locations for maintenance and emergency service purposes. The figures on the posts give the distance of the post, in kilometres, from a reference point such as a city centre, an administrative boundary or some other point. On the M25 for example, distances are referenced to a point near Junction 31 even though the section of the ring road between Junction 31 (186.6 km) and Junction 1a (5.7 km) is the A282, not the M25.^[3] On motorways distance marker posts also bear an arrow pointing towards the location of the nearest emergency telephone.^[4] The marker post pictured here is on a trunk road, not a motorway, and hence has no arrow. It is, however, unusual in displaying the highway identifier (A38) and carriageway identifier (A) in addition to the location identification (415.0).

The location denoted by distance marker posts is encoded into the numbers associated with motorway emergency roadside telephones. In this way the motorway control centre staff can quickly and accurately identify the location of the telephone from which the caller was reporting an incident.^[4][5][6]

Almost all items of highway furniture can be uniquely identified by number that are attached to or stencilled onto them.^[7] On motorways the number on the closest distance location marker is often incorporated into such identifiers. They are also used to identify traffic camera displays that can be seen at certain motorway service areas and on the internet.^[8][9]

Driver location signs

These signs give the same location information as distance marker posts, but in a more visible way on larger signs, which are generally placed at 500-metre (550-yard) intervals.

The need for more visible roadside locatation information was shown in 2007, in an incident on a motorway section before driver location signs had been erected. The Devon and Somerset Fire & Rescue Service reported that after a serious collision on the M5, their control centre was inundated with mobile phone calls from drivers. Callers gave the operators locations stretching over 40 miles (64 km) of road. As a result, four emergency service centres were mobilised instead of just one.^[10]

Research on trial sections of motorways showed that emergency service organisations responded 10 percent more quickly when a motorway had driver location signs than when it did not. Driver locations signs are more visible than the distance marker posts; this enables motorists to identify their location more quickly and accurately. Therefore emergency services can get to emergencies more quickly.^[2]

By the early 2000s mobile phones were being used as the primary means of reporting accidents .^[11] This required the government to rethink marker posts. By early 2007, after experiments from 2003 onwards on parts of the M25 and M6 which showed a 10% improvement in emergency service response times,^[2] a programme to erect driver location signs was commenced in England, but As of July 2009^[update] not in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland),^[1][12] at 500  intervals on many motorways. If obstacles prevent signs from being spaced at 500-metre (550 yd) intervals, then the interval must be reduced to either 400 or 300 metres (440 or 330 yd). By the end of the 2009 financial year, 80 percent of England's motorway network had been fitted with 16,000 driver location signs at a cost of £5.9 million (about £570 each). It was expected that the remaining 20% of the motorway network would be covered by April 2010 at a cost of £1.6 million.^[2]

Driver location signs have three pieces of information:

• The road identifier
• The carriageway identifier
• The location

The location is identical to the location given on marker posts. The most commonly used carriageway identifiers are the letters “A”, “B”, “J”, “K”, “L” and “M”. ^[13] The letter “A” normally denotes the carriageways leaving London (or clockwise in the case of the M25) and "B" is used for the opposite carriageway. Location numbers usually (but not always)^[14] increase in the direction of travel of the "A" carriageway, and decrease in the direction of travel of the "B" the carriageway. The letters "J", "K", "L" and "M" denote junction slip roads. This is illustrated below.

Usual Carriageway Identifiers used on Driver location signs.

Letters "C" and "D" have been allocated for service roads adjacent to the "A" and "B" carriageways.^[13] The regulations require that each driver location sign be unique within the United Kingdom.^[1]

The analysis of an exercise run by the Highways Agency (Exercise Hermes) in which a serious traffic accident was simulated reported that call handlers in control rooms should request marker post or location sign locations when taking calls from members of the public.^[15]

Rerouting

If a road is rerouted, then it is highly likely that there will be some changes in the end-to-end length of the road concerned which could affect the values on driver location signs. The publicly available Highways Agency documentation does not cover this possibility,^[13] but it will be noticed that the four carriageway identifiers "E", "F", "G" and "H" have been not been allocated.

Governing legislation

Section 64 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 authorises the Secretary of State for Transport to regulate the design of road signs in England, Scotland and Wales. The Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2002 (TSRGD)^[16] was issued under this authority. Although the TSRGD makes no provision for the use of driver location signs, both the Act and the TSRGD give the Secretary of State the power to authorise other signs as appropriate. The Secretary of State used this provision to authorise the design of driver location signs and to use the same location information on them as on the distance marker posts.^[1]

Public awareness

In a road users satisfaction survey conducted during the second quarter of 2010 in the M25 area, drivers were shown a picture of a driver location sign and asked whether they had seen similar signs and also what they thought the signs were for. Some 57% of drivers had seen such a sign, up from 39% four years previously but 72% of drivers did not know what the signs were for, down from 81% four years previously.^[17]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Highway Agency (December 2010). "Interim Advice Note 93/10 (Revision 1) - Driver Location Signs Interim Performance Specification". http://www.standardsforhighways.co.uk/ians/pdfs/ian93r1.pdf. Retrieved 2010-12-16. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d} Hansard. "21 Oct 2009 : Column 1446W". http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmhansrd/cm091021/text/91021w0002.htm#09102131001754. Retrieved 2009-11-04. 
3. ^ "M25 Road Network Driver Location Signs". Highways Agency. http://www.highways.gov.uk/business/documents/070921-Final_DLS_map.pdf. Retrieved 2011-05-13. 
4. ^ ^{a b} Highways Agency. "Driver Location Signs - Frequently Asked Questions". http://www.highways.gov.uk/business/16049.htm. Retrieved 2010-02-10. 
5. ^ Know Your Traffic Signs. London: Department for Transport. 2010. p. 143. ISBN 978 0 11 552855 2. http://www.direct.gov.uk/prod_consum_dg/groups/dg_digitalassets/@dg/@en/@motor/documents/digitalasset/dg_191955.pdf. Retrieved 2011-01-26. 
6. ^ Automobile Association. "Breakdown Advice". http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/breakdown_advice/driver-location-signs.html. Retrieved 2010-02-10. 
7. ^ "Highways Agency Strategic Plan for Integration". Highways Agency. http://www.highways.gov.uk/aboutus/10845.htm. Retrieved 2010-04-21. 
8. ^ "Traffic Cameras". Highways Agency. http://www.highways.gov.uk/traffic/15887.aspx. Retrieved 2010-04-23. 
9. ^ "Live traffic information covering England's motorways and major A roads". Highways Agency. http://www.trafficengland.com/index.aspx. Retrieved 2010-04-21. 
10. ^ "Motorway Markers". Devon and Somerset Fire & Rescue Service Newsdesk. 31 August 2007. http://www.dsfire.gov.uk/Newsdesk/ViewPressRelease.asp?ReleaseID=56. Retrieved 2010-11-12. 
11. ^ Highway Agency. "Driver Location Signs (March 2007)". http://www.highways.gov.uk/business/14730.aspx. Retrieved 2009-07-23. 
12. ^ Highway Agency. "Driver Location Signs (Driver Location Signs)". http://www.highways.gov.uk/knowledge/17088.aspx. Retrieved 2009-06-07. 
13. ^ ^{a b c} Highway Agency. "Identification of Incident Locations". http://www.highways.gov.uk/business/16043.aspx. Retrieved 2009-06-11. 
14. ^ For example the M32
15. ^ "Exercise Hermes". Highways Agency. January 2010. http://www.highways.gov.uk/business/26373.aspx. Retrieved 2010-03-30. 
16. ^ "Statutory Instrument 2002 No. 3113; The Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2002". Controller of HMSO. 16 December 2002. http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2002/20023113.htm. Retrieved 2010-06-12. 
17. ^ "Area 5 Road Users' Satisfaction Survey April to July 2010". Highways Agency. p. 35. http://www.highways.gov.uk/customer/documents/2010_-_08_-_ARUSS_Area_5_Results_-_April_to_July_2010.pdf. Retrieved 2011-02-16.