White Lines

  

White Lines

Did you know white lines were ‘invented’ by the Romans who would place white painted stones in the middle of carriageways in busy market towns to control traffic? 

Whatever did the Romans do for us, eh? 

It was ‘re-invented’ at the advent of urban congestion in early Victorian times. Believe it or not London, Norwich, York and Bristol were so congested due to lack of lane discipline, there were queues through the busy centres.

The use of white lines has moved on somewhat since then. 

Solid white lines should never be crossed on a motorway, nor hatched areas. 

But wait. The hard shoulder has a solid white line. And service vehicles park on hatched refuges for safety.

Solid white lines should never be crossed on highways either. Well, the central white line shouldn’t, those in the channels and those outlining hatched areas only outline a feature. Oh and hatching on highways can be crossed too.

Confusing? Well you probably work in the industry, so have at least a basic understanding of it. Imagine the average driver.

But do we really need all these white lines? Currently I wonder whether local authorities all got bought a ‘Whitelining machine’ by Santa over the past couple of years. Wherever there’s an empty black space, it gets filled with hatching. Have a look and ask yourself, ‘Is that needed?’ or ‘What are they trying to advise me?’ After all, hatching on most roads are advisory, and do not stand-up in courts as a mandatory direction under regulations.

What is the point of this hatching?

Why is a traffic lane filled with hatching?

Then, imagine all the way back to Victorian times. White lines were put down to allow persons to pass on each other’s right-hand side. So we’ve had 4 or 5 generations to learn about white lining. It’s in our psyche. So do we need all of them? Certainly hatching in the middle of roads is not needed unless it’s advising you of a right turn bay coming up. It should not be used to separate opposing traffic as the hatched area becomes a no-mans-land, and could be used by both vehicles at the same time travelling towards each other. In Poole hatching is not used on approaches to central refuges, and it looks very smart and tidy – and works. In Wiltshire, on low speed straight roads, no central markings are used, and it slows vehicles down.

We know what side of the road to drive on. Even the ‘Johnny Foreigner’ understands it. Having no white lines slows vehicles down, and brings back eye contact and human interaction. Sure you’ll get the odd idiot who may crash, but we shouldn’t always design for those with a lack of driving skills or common sense.

So let’s try and encourage councils to take up white lines, or at least when they resurface, to redesign or at least reconsider whether all the white lines need replacing. 

Let’s follow Wiltshire and Poole’s examples, it looks nicer, and slows vehicles down, and no one wanders onto the wrong side of the road wondering where to drive.

Well there’s probably always one. Line or no line!

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UK Manufacturing Is Efficient

      

UK Manufacturing is Efficient

I recently had the opportunity to be invited to look around Siemens' Poole factory by the IET. 

Having worked in traffic signals for years, I realised I had never been in their factory before, so was quietly excited and intrigued what went on behind the scenes of one of the UK’s leading traffic technology companies.

The first thing you need to know about Siemens in Poole, is it is the original Plessey site in Creekmoor. 

Creekmoor is a quiet residential suburb, but just after passing the local grammar school, you’re presented with a mixture of post war and modern architecture.

My first thought was that I would find a run-down dusty, dirty warehouse with scruffy men hammering kit together.

Siemens Traffic Head Office - Poole

Well what a pleasant surprise. The factory is very sleek, clean, bright, and very quiet! I was presented to the factory managers, who were very professional, and came across as very proud of their work.

The factory was amazing. More than I thought it would be. Inside were fabrication machines, soldering and assembly lines, all running and very quiet.

Siemens do not have the capacity to make thousands of products there. They stated, quite rightly, they would be swallowed by the Chinese manufacturers on that level. 

However, they make a few hundred to order, and in fact sell to the Chinese, as well as over 20 other countries, which surprised me.

The Factory Floor

They assemble traffic light heads, push button units and their own comms units as well as many circuit boards, all designed and built to fit over 400 different models. The logistics of setting the machines for that was mind boggling. 

The main product was of course the controller for traffic systems. These are assembled to order in full, then moved to another section where they are thoroughly tested and sprayed with Tecqua protection before being shipped to the client. 

Even the shipping rota is efficient. It’s all sent to Leicestershire twice a week, then despatched from there by a national haulage company. Saving them and customers P&P costs.

So why was this factory doing so well in the UK?

Well it is all down to Siemens LEAN 3i system. An anglicised version of Toyota’s LEAN system. This system is where staff earn bonuses (yes money!) for trying to make their work more efficient. If it is a success and Siemens use it, then they get their bonus. This means all staff from floor to manager, are working to be as efficient as possible. The managers also meet on the factory floor, so there is no ‘them and us’ scenarios.

Tecqua Protected Controller

As I’ve previously stated, manufacturing is alive and well in UK. We may never compete on Chinese, and Indian levels, but for high tech manufacturing and assembly, we easily compete with the US, Germany and Japan. Long may it continue to grow.

And I hope Siemens in Poole continues to be successful too. I think they should open their doors more often to the public, as it is a great way to showcase modern UK manufacturing and assembly.

Poole

Location of Poole, Dorset, England

Find The Engineer

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