Quality Marking Services, supported by Safer Highways, is to undertake the single largest independent retro-reflectivity survey within the UK to coincide with the 12 month anniversary of the release of CS 126.
Covering approximately 3,000 miles and taking in sections from all area networks around the country, the route shall start at Land’s End and navigate through Wales and up the west side of England before reaching Scotland and heading across to John O’ Groats.
The return journey will meander down the east side of the country before crossing back and forth through various network sections and finally returning to Land’s End to finish.
QMS LifeLineTM is a mobile retro-reflectivity survey delivered using the latest laser technology Laserlux LLG7 retro-reflectometer. Scanning the road surface at 400 times per second and averaging the results every 100m in accordance with CS 126, plus recording the retro-reflectivity and positioning of every road stud throughout the route.
The QMS LifeLineTM system secured the Road Safety Marking Association Innovation of the Year award in 2019 and Greg Clark, Managing Director of QMS said, “it is a fantastic opportunity to collaborate with Safer Highways and carry out this End to End survey. Obtaining nationwide results for road marking performance will demonstrate the compliance of the SRN against the CS 126 & BSEN ISO 1436 standards.”
The survey will provide a snapshot view of the performance of road markings throughout the country on approximately 3,000 miles of the strategic road network which is estimated that 95% of the country’s residents use at least once per year.
Retro-reflectivity performance of road markings is essential for road safety in the hours of darkness and the increases in performance specification detailed in CS 126 is a clear commitment from Highways England to improve road safety on the network.
The introduction of Automatic Lane Keeping Assist within vehicles relies upon a road network that the vehicles can see, in the dark as well as during daylight hours. Therefore, ensuring the retro-reflectivity performance of the road marking is compliant with the standards is essential for the future-proofing of our nation’s roads.
