British road signs to be axed in safety bid

Plans to "declutter" road signs and make streets safer for cyclists have been announced by the Government.

To be consulted on, the plans are designed to make signs clearer and to cut their number.

The proposals will reduce the number of signs that the Department for Transport (DfT) will need to authorise and streamline the approval process for councils, cutting regulation.

Roads Minister Robert Goodwill said: "The number of signs have soared from two million in 1993 to more than 4.6 million today. This is causing unnecessary clutter in our towns and cities.

"The proposed changes will mean greater flexibility for councils to cut the number of signs, while ensuring consistency and making sure our roads are even safer for cyclists and motorists."

The changes will mean road users will have signs that are easier to understand and could cut clutter on the roads.

The proposals will also look to relax regulations for parking bays and yellow-box junctions to give local councils greater flexibility in designing road layouts and markings.

The DfT also plans to introduce a range of measures to help local authorities make roads safer for cyclists and encourage more people to take to two wheels. These include

:: Bigger cycle boxes at traffic lights to make it safer for cyclists at junctions;

:: Low-level traffic light signals and filters that give cyclists a 'head start' on other traffic;

:: The roll-out of shared crossings for pedestrians and cyclists which allow those on a bicycle to cross the road safely;

:: Removing the "lead-in"' lanes at advance stop lines, which force cyclists to enter a cycle box alongside the kerb.

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