Get in line people, road marks aren’t optional

It is common practice all over the world to paint lines down the middle of tarmac roads. And between lanes. And to demarcate the edges. 

Some of the lines are yellow and others are white. Some are solid and some are intermittent (dashes, known somewhat ambiguously as “broken” lines).

This is not done for aesthetic reasons, nor because road constructors are wannabe graffiti artists. Each colour and type of line has a specific position and meaning. The accuracy of the painting and obedience to the meanings are key to orderly traffic flows;  they give drivers information essential to lane discipline, signalling requirements, rights of way, contraflow priorities, sight lines of horizons and corners and approaching junctions. And they are an especially crucial visual aid at night or in fog or heavy rain.

In sum, road marking lines are not whimsical nor incidental to road design and construction. Their existence and consistent accuracy are fundamental and important. Any holder of a driving licence is legally obliged to know what they mean.  

Lines are not difficult to add.  There are specially durable high-viz paints. There are machines which can apply them perfectly and quickly.  

And they’re not expensive — in the budget for building or surfacing a road (always at least tens of millions, and often several billions of shillings) the cost of paint is less than the rounding out of the petty cash.

So why are so many of our tarmac roads not marked at all? Why are the markings on others either incomplete or allowed to fade into oblivion? And, most puzzling of all, how do some acquire clear lines…painted in the wrong place?

After all, every road designer, constructor, mender and supervising engineer must surely know exactly how the job should be done, as basic professional competence. So how is it possible that markings can ever be omitted or incorrect?

No road-building contract ever stipulates that lines must not (repeat not) be painted.  

Surely, in every project, they are a survey item, a design item,  a budget item, a logistical planning item, and a final inspection item.

Is it possible that  everybody in that chain of authority, action and responsibility can “forget” to paint them?

Choosing which colour of paint to use, and whether the line(s) should be solid or broken or a parallel combination of both, and deciding exactly where each type should begin and end, is not a matter of anybody’s personal opinion. There are scientifically precise criteria — so universal, so exact and so consistent that they can be determined by readily available and easy-to-use computer programmes.  

And, surely, the physical application of something as important as a road marking (which could be a matter of life and death) is systemised to prevent, check, counter-check and remedy any human error.

It is a mind boggling task to even guess what sort of administrative conversation or supervisory process could possibly contrive to paint (and approve) a solid line where there should be a broken line, or vice versa.

Mistakes might get through, but they should be easy to find. The highly trained, expert and ever-diligent traffic police should know exactly where they all are.