New software has been released to help designers tackle major upcoming changes to the national rules on traffic signs.
The Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions (TSRGD) 2016, the statutory instrument governing traffic signs in Britain, comes into force on 22 April and represents a radical overhaul of the rules, leaving councils with much more flexibility and control over sign designs.
An example of the updated SignPlot software
The updated SignPlot software is available from Buchanan Computing and those under current support contracts with the firm can upgrade for free.
Simon Morgan, chairman of Buchanan Computing, said: ‘Two aspects of the new rules were particularly challenging to implement in software. Parking plates have traditionally been specified by their TSRGD diagram number. But these numbers no longer exist and the options permitted are now much wider.
'We therefore developed a new tool to create these signs in the same way as in the regulations – choosing first the background colour, then from a list of applicable symbols and finally the text, restricting the choice at each stage to what is compatible with the sign so far.
‘We have kept as close as possible to the concepts and terminology used in the regulations themselves, including providing easy access to the ‘permitted expressions’ (in Welsh, as well as English!)
‘Even greater innovation was needed for new types of directional sign. ‘Tiger tails’ have become a familiar sight at motorway junctions where a high exit flow merits providing two separate points at which traffic can leave the main line. But the signing for these has only now become prescribed, along with signs that show lanes dividing or that a particular lane can be used for more than one route.
‘We took the approach that even these quite complex signs were amenable to being described in simple dialogues, saving designers being concerned with dimensions and allowing them to concentrate on achieving the clearest and most compact layout.'
There is a one-off charge of £2,055 to establish a support contract with Buchanan Computing, with annual fees of £360.
