Road marking

Edward N. Hines ( Edward N. Hines , 1870–1938), a member of the Wayne County road commission in Michigan (USA), is considered the inventor of road markings. In 1911, he proposed putting on the first concrete road of the world, Woodward Avenue in Detroit , the central line for the separation of lanes ^[1] .

10 years later (1921) in the English town of Sutton Coldfield ( Sutton Coldfield , a suburb of Birmingham ), the first marking of Great Britain appeared . This experiment to improve road safety was so successful that white road marking subsequently became the standard in the United Kingdom and many other countries. ^[2]

For some time, different road markings were used in different countries. For example, in Germany in the 30s they used black markup, which was later abandoned as ineffective. Nowadays, black is used in combination with white when applying vertical markings.

In 1930, the British Percy Show-invented retroreflective device for improving road visibility, the Cat's Eye, was widely patented in the United Kingdom during World War II, when thanks to the reflectors, even during blackouts, the road remained visible to drivers.

In the 1950s , in Caltrans (California Transportation Department), Elbert Dysart Botts, an expert in paint chemistry, decided to use glass beads as part of paint to improve the visibility of road markings. And so that the layer of water covering the markings does not impair visibility, the retroreflective elements began to be raised a quarter of an inch above the road (about 6 mm). At the same time, another effect arose - when hitting such a marking, the driver heard thumps, but it was considered worthy, since she began to warn the drivers who had not noticed it was crossing the markup.

Ceramic or plastic markers were nailed to the road with special nails, until in the late 1950s Herb Rooney, a former student of Botts ^{[ what? ]} , did not invent a special epoxy resin , reliably gluing markers to the roadway. Since 1966, markers, dubbed Botts' Dots, "the points of the Botts," began to be used on the roads of the United States and then other countries of the world. ^[3]

In 1955 , the first edge noise bands appeared in the state of New Jersey . Currently, they are widely used in many countries, including USA, Canada, Finland, Norway, Sweden and others. ^[four]

With increasing traffic, vertical markings began to be used to indicate sudden obstacles on the road, fencing dangerous sections of roads, etc.

Currently, in addition to roads, the marking is also used in the adjacent territories - at gas stations , surface and underground parking lots . It is used on the territory of airports .

Longitudinal marking

separates traffic flows in opposite directions and marks the boundaries of the lanes.

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  solid line

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  dashed line

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  double solid line

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  double dashed line

Cross marking

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  solid line

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  dashed line

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  Pedestrian crossing ("zebra")

Arrows

Pictograms

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  for cyclists

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  for disabled

The markup can be permanent or temporary.

For permanent marking all countries use white paint. An exception is the permanent yellow marking, indicating stopping places for route vehicles and taxis, as well as places where stopping or parking is prohibited.

Temporary markings can be painted with yellow (Germany, Estonia), orange or red (Austria, Switzerland) colors and used for repair work and re-organization of traffic.

In the presence of both constant and temporary markup, you must be guided by the temporary. It is usually applied with a short-lived paint, which by the end of repair work is erased by itself or removed by road services.

Reflective materials are often used to improve the visibility of the markup.

In some cases, to attract attention, noise markings ( noise bands ) are used - at special emergency pedestrian crossings, to indicate the edges and divisions of the federal highways. This method of marking allows you to “cheer up” the tired driver, and also remind you that you need to reduce the speed of the car. Noise strips are milled (in the asphalt cutters cut a number of shallow grooves), raised (applied over the road), as well as pressed and molded (the last two are applied only during the construction of the road in hot asphalt concrete). ^[five]

Also: A lying policeman .

• Petroleum resin - used in the paint used for road markings.

• GOST R 51256-99 Road marking. Types of basic parameters. General technical requirements

• Road marking and its characteristics. Appendix 2 to the Rules of the road ;
• Which is more important, a road sign or a marking? Priority marks and markup.
• Road Marking Site