Government unveils guidelines for signages for highways, expressways to enhance road safety

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has unveiled a list of comprehensive guidelines for signages on national highways and expressways to improve road safety. MoRTH minister Nitin Gadkari has approved the new guidelines and will focus on incorporating the best practices and world standards in a bid to improve visibility and intuitive guidance to drivers.

The evaluation process for setting up guidelines involved evaluating provisions in line with relevant Indian Road Congress (IRC) codes & guidelines, international practices, and the functionality perspective. Under the new guidelines, the new signage will have enhanced visibility and legibility. The placement of the signage will be at appropriate heights and distances.

The signage will also include large lettering, symbols, and short legends, which will be able to provide crucial information even in adverse weather conditions. The guidelines also propose pictorial depictions along with text to cater to a wider set of road users, especially to those with limited literacy. This will ensure better comprehension and adherence to traffic rules and regulations.

MoRTH also proposes multilingual road signages in a bid to address the linguistic diversity of India. The signage will use both English and regional languages for better communication with road users. The proposed guidelines also stress the importance of road discipline, leading to reduced congestion and improved traffic flow.

The new signages designed under the proposed guidelines will be implemented across all the upcoming highways, expressways and greenfield corridors, MoRTH said. Moreover, highways with high traffic volumes with more than 20,000 passenger cars on the road will be given priority for implementing these guidelines.