Road Markings/Destinations

In recent years, as our roads have got busier, it has become more and more common to paint destinations on the road surface on the approach to junctions. They act as an additional guide to drivers who may not be able to take in full detail of signage due to traffic conditions, and are used to help get traffic into the right lane for the junction in advance, so as to minimise last minute lane changing. The only other text commonly painted on our roads in white paint is SLOW and its translation of ARAF in Wales.

Because drivers are reading the text on the road at an oblique angle, the letters are painted very tall and narrow on the road, which makes them look fairly normal from the position of a car driver! They are painted in white paint, and are frequently abbreviated in order to fit the necessary information into the lane width. A typical lane can only hold 5 letters, so many longer place names are cut down with a mixture of apostrophes and full stops. Five characters is, however, sufficient for all road numbers with even those such as A823(M) just about fitting when necessary. Sometimes destinations are split onto two lines, but in many cases there are two destinations and a road number that need to be fitted onto the road and 3 lines of text seems to be the maximum normally applied.

As they are used as a lane guide for motorists on the approach to junctions, destintaions are often painted twice. The first set will be around a couple of hundred metres before the junction as an advance warning, and then the second will be just a couple of car lengths from the Give way lines. On occasion, these two sets may hold different information, as the signs do with the first being long-distance destinations and the second being local destinations. However, this can lead to confusion especially when a road opens out to provide more lanes closer to the junction.

In many cases, but by no means always, destination markings are accompanied by Turning arrows to further guide traffic in advance of the junction.

Common destinations

Whilst many of the destinations are nearby towns or villages, and some are Primary Destinations at a greater distance (Glasgow, Aberdeen, Perth and Inverness are used across much of the Highlands), many are repeated the length and breadth of the country. The four compass points are regularly used, sometimes painted, and sometimes appended to a road number, for example A38(N), much as we see on road signs. Other common markings tend to be local destinations such as Town Centre, Retail Park, Superstore and Hospital, all abbreviated to fit.