News that the AA fully endorses the cost-effectiveness of high quality white lines in cutting the death toll on UK roads was warmly welcomed by the Road Safety Marking Association (RSMA).

 

“The AA today said that lives are being saved by one of the lowest-cost measures in the road engineer’s toolbox: simple white lines,” says RSMA director, George Lee.

 

The AA cited data from annual research initiated by the AA in 2003, and now conducted by the Road Safety Foundation, which tracks the safety standards on Britain’s roads. The latest report notes that road markings feature in seven out of 10 programmes of targeted improvements on the country’s most notoriously dangerous highways, with improvements resulting in cutting fatal and serious crashes by more than a half. The research also tracks flaws in the road network that expose road users to risk of head-on or run-off collisions as well as at junctions.

 

“The AA clearly grasps the significance of high-quality, wet-night visible markings – which include centre and edge lines, studs, warnings and Give Way marks – in making roads easier to ‘read’, says Lee.

 

Cost-benefit analysis from local and national road authorities put the first year rate of return on markings as 500 per cent – and frequently as high as 1500 per cent - based on the high level of safety gain.

 

Ongoing research carried out by the RSMA shows that the quality of markings has been steadily improving of the last five years as road authorities acknowledge the effectiveness of spending on such measures. However, it is expected that this year’s survey, due to be carried out after the summer, will find a reversal of this trend – due to the severe winter and tighter budgets. 

 

“Road markings provide the best, most simple navigation aid to drivers,” says George Lee.   “From something as straightforward as a set of Give Way marks at less than £50 to the most comprehensive centre line marking schemes at around £1500 per kilometre, these are investments that no road authority can afford to ignore – because they save lives time after time.”