December 2009

Dirty signs of the times

Have you ever noticed that you simply can’t read what seems like half the UK’s road signs because they’re obscured by trees and bushes or are just plain filthy?

Now councils across the UK are being urged to embark on a major winter clean up campaign of all their important road signs.

A build up of winter grime and years of growth by roadside vegetation is reckoned to be obscuring tens of thousands of directional and warning signs, says breakdown service Autonational Rescue, and, it says, that can cost lives.

The call comes in the wake of a poll among many of the UK’s local authorities who are chiefly responsible for keeping their road signs clean and clearly visible.

Following requests under the Freedom of Information Act, they were asked these basic questions:

How much does your local authority actually spend on road signs each year? How often are they cleaned and at what cost?

Most County Councils have allocated sizeable budgets on road sign expenditure and on keeping them clean.

Scotland topped the poll, in North Lanarkshire, with almost £380,000 earmarked each year for road signs, with £100,000 set aside to keep them clean twice a year or ‘following complaints’.

Also credit should be given to Hertfordshire, Leicestershire and Pembrokeshire in Wales who also have a good record of sign cleaning.

Lincolnshire also proved a big spender on road signs, with a £315,000 budget, with £37,400 set aside for “at best” once a year cleaning costs.

Most surprisingly, three local authorities in Derbyshire, Warwickshire and Essex, said they could not answer the questions under the Act because the costs involved in finding out the answers were greater than the £450 limit that the Act allows for.

Here in detail is what some of the nation’s local authorities told us:

Autonational Rescue spokesman Roger Eversley said it is “simply not good enough” to leave road signs dirty or obscured by trees or vegetation literally for years on end.

He added: “Certainly, the local authorities which are cleaning road signs at least once a year, such as Lanarkshire, certainly deserve praise.

“But it does seem as though some local authorities spend a small fortune putting up all kinds of warning signs by the road side, only to forget about them once they are up!

“What’s more, it seems that many councils just rely on the public - most often motorists themselves - to report any problems with road signs before action is taken.

And what’s really needed on all of the nation’s councils’ maintenance calendars is a scheduled, regular wash ‘n’ brush up for signs.

“All we are suggesting is that attention to road signage moves up the local authority agendas, especially at this time of year.”

He said: “It’s not just a matter of keeping things clean. Obscured or dirty warning signs for example can easily cost lives if they don’t do the job for which they were intended.”

Autonational Rescue is the car breakdown service with the no claims bonus, for more information visit www.autonational.co.uk or call 08459 100 345.

Ends

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Issued by: CPR Works Ltd
Contact: Roger Eversley/Jenny Carr
Tel: 01902 680068
E-mail: info@cpr.co.uk
Web: www.cpr.co.uk