Council Campaigns For Greener Road Side Lighting (Submitted)

OXFORDSHIRE County Council has written to the Government to ask for changes to national rules on lighting of road traffic signs so that energy costs can be cut and carbon footprints reduced.
All councils are currently bound by law to illuminate certain traffic signs – even though modern and efficient highly reflective materials are now used in the manufacture of sign plates and bollards.

The council has stated that new laws should be flexible enough to take account of local conditions and that safety should remain the prime consideration – with risk assessments being all important. In many European countries, illuminated signs are generally not the norm.

The letter, from the county council’s Cabinet Member for Strategic Transport Policy, Cllr David Robertson, has been sent to government minister, Douglas Alexander.

In addition to the advances in technology that make signs highly reflective, the letter lists other good reasons to make rules more flexible. These include:

The costs of energy are ever rising, as are the pressures on local authorities to make efficiency savings.
The reduced use of energy would bring a corresponding reduction in carbon emissions and help local authorities reduce their carbon footprint.
The costs of installing road signs would be reduced.
There would no longer be a need to install electrical infrastructure to get power to road signs to light them.
Costs to repair failed lights would no longer be an issue.
There would be a reduction in the need for disposal of spent electrical components.

Cllr David Robertson said: “The highly reflective materials that road signs are made from nowawadays mean that car lights reflect in to them and the driver is able to see the signs clearly. That makes the need for lighting far less important.
“Of course each case needs to be assessed on its merits and there may still be occasions when the safety experts deem that lighting should be fitted. However, there should be flexibility so that judgements can be made at local level and energy and money saved in instances where lighting is not required.”