Yogi govt examines signage guidelines for road safety

Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh government is examining the guidelines prepared by Indian Roads Congress that stipulates the safety protocol required to keep the road users safe from getting distracted by outdoor advertisements.

Additional chief secretary of the housing department Nitin Ramesh Gokarn said that amendments would be made to the rules once feedback from the team of officials deputed for the task is available.

The guidelines examine the current practices and global advancement in outdoor advertising. Safety, efficiency, positioning of roadside advertisements and their illumination would be covered under the new protocol.

This is being done to cause minimum distraction to the vehicle owners and ensure safety, the minimum spacing from road carriageway that has been defined as per the speed limit set by the local regulatory authority.

In locations where speed limit has been curtailed within 30 km per hour, the hoardings can come up at a distance of 35 metre. However, to ensure safety on road stretches where vehicles are allowed to scale 60 km in an hour, the recommended distance must be 90 metres.

In case advertisements must be allowed within congested locations, the IRC stipulates maintaining at least 10 metre distance from the carriageway as long as maximum area of the hoarding is 3 square metres.

The apex body on road safety guidelines in the country states that using mobile platforms for advertising on roads shall be allowed only during non-peak hours of working days.

In an advisory for the expressway authorities and public works department, IRC says no advertisements shall be allowed within 200 metre from the carriageways of the intercity expressways or high speed corridors as distraction of the driver’s attention even for a fraction of a second could prove fatal.

Similarly, specific dos and don'ts have been framed for scrolling and non-scrolling multimedia content and for illuminated signboards.