Road markings are intended to regulate circulation and warn or guide road users through lines, numbers, pictograms or letters. Among other indications, these horizontal signs inform about the actions permitted or prohibited on that section of road, highway or highway. It is a universal language shared by all drivers that contributes to improving traffic and road safety. Furthermore, it is an open communication code, which is growing with the incorporation of new brands. Thus, we have seen how in recent times some conventional roads have incorporated green or red lines.
It is possible that some drivers still do not know what the purpose of these colored lines is and how they should act when driving on a section delimited by these markings on the asphalt. In both cases, its purpose is to reduce accidents. Since conventional roads are the ones that concentrate 75% of fatal traffic accidents, that is where they are located.
The General Directorate of Traffic (DGT), following the experience successfully carried out in countries such as Holland and Sweden, began a pilot test in 2016 on two roads in Palencia to test the usefulness of green lines in terms of road safety. Thus, on the CL-613 (Palencia-Sahagún) and the CL-615 (Palencia-Guardo), a green stripe was added parallel to the white one that delimits the shoulder. This achieves an optical effect of narrowing the road, which reduces the speed at which vehicles circulate. Thus, the driver instinctively takes his foot off the accelerator.
Traffic chose the aforementioned roads to carry out the test - before deciding to implement them on other roads - because they are in good condition, have very long straights, their width reaches three and a half meters and they have horizontal curves with a wide radius. These features, together, conveyed to the driver a deceptive feeling of low risk that made him overconfident and exceed the established speed limits.
These lines are accompanied by vertical informative signs that repeatedly remind drivers that they are on a road with specially controlled speed. The final objective is to reach a point of driver awareness so that “the installation of speed control systems is not necessary, and a self-explanatory road is obtained,” says the DGT.
For its part, the placement of a large red line between the two lanes of a conventional road with a high concentration of accidents aims to ensure that drivers exercise extreme caution and do not invade the space of vehicles traveling in the opposite direction.
This road marking has recently been painted on the A-355, as it passes through Coín towards Marbella. As the Andalusian Government's Department of Development itself has highlighted, this sign serves to highlight the prohibition of overtaking on that section. And head-on collisions are one of the most common causes of fatal accidents that occur on conventional roads.
To reinforce the effectiveness of these road markings, the General Directorate of Traffic recommends “having sound guides” milled or highlighted, either in the central space or on the white road markings, to alert the driver of an involuntary detour.
