Road markings essential for safety

A World Health Organisation report recently revealed that South Africa has at least one-million road accidents a year, with an average of 40 people fatally injured and at least 20 people permanently disabled every day.

Patrick Smith from World Highways reports that road markings are “as important as signs (in contributing to safety), with longitudinal markings informing and warning road users of approaching situations that will require them to take some form of action.”

A 2022 report by City Markings assesses the effectiveness of water-based white and yellow road markings in a portion of road in the North West province. Over the four years since Plascon Aqualine Hysheen ultra high performance road marking paint (now Plascon Roadtect 4500 WB) was applied, it is noted that the  road has been subjected to an extremely high level of wear and tear, mainly as a result of quarry truck movement. Access to the quarry was on this same section of road, so the yellow shoulders of the road were subject to particularly heavy traffic. In addition, a large quantity of muddy material was deposited onto the lines of the road and was later washed away by seasonal rains.

The technical report uses retro-reflective readings and photographic visuals to evaluate the performance of the paint product on high-trafficked road surfaces.

“We believe the performance of the Plascon Roadtect 4500 white and yellow is very good and speaks for itself, even after four-and-a-half years on a road surface subjected to heavy quarry traffic. The surface on which this product was applied, after all, is a well-worn 15 mm Chip&Spray – which normally wears rapidly due to its roughness,” concludes City Markings Deon Honiball.

“This product has performed as well as any high-quality product and possibly even better than that of thermo-plastics. There’s no severe cracking – even after all this time and high-volume exposure.”

Plascon marketing manager Bavita Valab states that “Plascon engineered this product to be exceptionally hard-wearing and long-lasting. We are pleased to see that technical reports conducted on its performance are testament to this. We are proud to be able to provide this valuable product as an aid to service delivery on public roads.”

The technical report further notes that the paint could result in a 30% to 40% saving in application rate, compared to the use of thermo-plastics on high-traffic road surfaces, making it not only safer but also cheaper and easier to use.