Home SECTION IV SIGNAGE CHAPTER VI TYPES AND MEANINGS OF ROAD SIGNS AND ROAD MARKINGS SECTION 2 CIRCUMSTANTIAL SIGNALS WHICH MODIFY THE NORMAL USE OF THE ROAD, AND BEACON SIGNALS Article 144 Circumstantial and beacon signals

Article 144 Circumstantial and beacon signals

by Mark Nolan

1. Variable message panels are intended to regulate traffic by adapting to changing traffic circumstances. They will be used to give information to drivers, warn drivers of possible dangers and give recommendations or mandatory instructions. The content of the texts and graphics of the variable message signs panels should comply with the provisions of the official catalogue of traffic signs.

 

The modifications that these panels of variable message make compared to the usual vertical and horizontal signalling end when the panel itself establishes it or the causes that motivated its imposition, from which point they return to dominate.

 

Failure to respect the instructions and obligations advised by these panels will constitute a serious offence.

 

2. Beacon signals may be:

 

A) Barrier devices: they prohibit the passage to the part of the road they restrict and are the following:

 

1. Fixed barrier: prohibits entry to the road or part of it that is restricted.

 

2. Mobile barrier or semi-permanent barrier: it temporarily prohibits entry, while it is in a transversal position to the roadway in a level crossing, a toll or customs post, access to an establishment or others.

 

3. Provisional directional panel: prohibits entry and also informs about the direction of driving.

 

4. Small flags, cones or similar devices: they prohibit the passage through the real or imaginary line that unites them.

 

5. Fixed red light: indicates that the road is completely closed to traffic.

 

6. Fixed or intermittent yellow lights: prohibit the passage through the imaginary line that unites them.

 

B) Guidance devices: their purpose is to indicate the edge of the road, the presence of a curve and the direction of travel, the limits of construction works or other obstacles.

 

They are the following:

 

1. Vertex marker: a semi-cylindrical shape on its front face, provided with symmetrically opposed triangles, made of reflective material, which indicates the point at which two traffic flows separate.

 

2. Edge markers: element whose primary purpose is to mark the edges of roads mainly during the night or low visibility.

 

3. Permanent directional panels: devices implemented for guidance and pointing out a specific danger, through which information on the direction of traffic flow is reported.

 

4. Horizontal reflectors (cat’s eyes).

 

5. Barrier reflectors.

 

6. Flat beacons: indicate the edge of the road, the limits of construction works or other obstacles on the road.

 

7. Cylindrical Beacons: they reinforce any security measure, and the line, imaginary or not, that unites them cannot be crossed.

 

8. Lateral barriers: rigid, semi-rigid and moveable. They indicate the edge of the road and protect against involuntary exits.

 

3. The shape, colour, design, symbols, meaning and dimensions of beacon signals should conform to what is established in the official catalogue of traffic signs.

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