The council provides signs in order to give information to the road user.
Signs
The Highway Code gives examples of the most common signs in normal use.
Signs fall into certain groups:
- Regulatory signs - signs with red circles.
- Warning signs - mostly triangular.
- Direction signs - mostly rectangular. Destinations and map type.
- Information signs - mostly rectangular.
All signs on roads must be authorised by the council. Special signs are allowed with prior approval of the Department for Transport, or if they are experimental and under trial.
Tourism signing
Tourism signing provides an important opportunity for both tourism businesses and local economies. It will be implemented positively and constructively.
Our application pack for tourism signing is available to download:
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There is of course an advertising element as it helps to generate more impromptu visits. However, the primary purpose is to safely guide those wishing to visit a tourist destination along the most appropriate route. It can also indicate facilities that a tourist would not reasonably expect to find in that location.
Lines
Yellow lines are provided where there is a need to restrict parking. This can be to improve traffic flow and to prevent obstructions on the road.
There are only two types used:
- Double lines usually mark lengths of road where there is no waiting at any time. However, there are exceptions to this. Supplementary plates fixed to lighting columns or posts will tell you what the actual restriction is.
- Single lines usually indicate a shorter period of restriction, such as daytime. Again, supplementary plates will show the actual times. Loading restrictions are shown by yellow markings on the kerb and on the supplementary plates.
The Highway Code gives examples of the lines in normal use.
White lines on the road are provided to help road users by giving different types of information on lane use and directions.
Road markings are as important as signs. Markings that follow the length of the road inform and warn road users of approaching situations that will require them to take some form of action (i.e. solid white line - do not cross, or lane line - turn right).
Lines that go across the road also give instruction (i.e. stop or give way).
All lines on the road must be authorised by the council. Special lines are allowed with prior approval of the Department for Transport, or if they are experimental and under trial.
Traffic signs, road markings and road studs policy
Note: The above document is in Portable Document Format (PDF). You will need a suitable reader to view it. A reader can be downloaded free from the Adobe website (full instructions for downloading the reader are provided on the site).