At least once a day, you’ll find yourself travelling down all kinds of roads alongside a variety of vehicles. Amongst these will be maintenance vehicles that use specific signage so they are visible.

Maintenance, inspection, and other work carried out on roads and motorways will need restrictions in place to divert traffic. This also shows road users with areas that are unavailable and using signs and colours helps people to recognise this quickly.

In this blog, we look at the rules, regulations and importance of Chapter 8 Signage on your vehicle.

Chapter 8:

Chapter 8 signage consists of a set of rules, these must be adhered to so that work can be carried out safely on roads and highways. This also ensures that during the maintenance process the road user’s needs for information and guidance is satisfied.

This signage has specific regulations that must be followed so that the vehicles are visible at all times. Chapter 8 includes a list of signs which help with management, such as regulatory signs, warning signs, traffic management, diversion signs and driver information signs.

Emergency service access, scheduled road works and having a proper structure in place means that Chapter 8 Signage can be used to its’ full potential.

Your Vehicle:

Vehicles used in road maintenance come in all sizes; small vans, tippers, trucks, road sweepers, which can take up a lot of space. By following the Chapter 8 signage rules (colours and design) it helps pedestrians and drivers to see that their vehicle is being used for important work.

Vehicles that require Chapter 8, should look different when they are going to be situated in the middle of roads as it makes other road users aware of their intentions.

Before buying a vehicle, it should also be considered that it is suitable for the specific sector, making sure it is able to carry specific equipment and different sized loads.

Safety:

The main purpose is to keep road users safe at all times when the roads are being fixed and maintained. Apart from vehicle signage, Chapter 8 has incorporated many other signs to help people travel safely and efficiently.

The first signs are for temporary traffic control, which has priority, STOP and GO and danger/hazard areas. In order to maintain a safe work system, safety barriers are used as an important tool to divide the working area visibly and physically.

Reflective:

On motorways and roads, using reflective signs means higher visibility, which in turn helps road users as it becomes darker.

A combination of red and yellow with strips give the highest visibility. The red stripes are made of reflective material in order to be visible enough during daytime and reflecting during nighttime.

Meanwhile, the yellow strips are fluorescent and non-reflective because they can be visible during the day and non-visible during the night to avoid the compromise of the red strip reflection with yellow at night-time.

Chevron:

Chevron is the final part of Chapter 8 signage. These make the difference between normal vehicles and those used for road maintenance. Vehicles are required to stick red and yellow fluorescent strips of vinyl, covering the back in an upward direction, and are usually combined with writing in capital and bold font.

If needed, the same signage of strips can be used for the right and left sides of the vehicle in red or yellow.

Vehicles used for road works and investigations play a big part in day-to-day life. These vehicles are used to help get jobs done quickly – as they are in high-risk situations, sometimes on high-speed roads, it’s a must to comply with the Chapter 8 regulations to ensure the safety of all.

Safety is a priority and not just for the driver and other road users but also for pedestrians who can be involved in situations where they don’t know the purpose of a vehicle stopping in the middle of the road.

At Hardy Signs, we provide quality and professional service in manufacturing signage. Get in touch today to discuss your signage requirements.