Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2015-02-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure that non-English-speaking road users can read road signs.

Baroness Kramer

Local authorities have a duty to ensure that their traffic signs and road markings comply with the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions (TSRGD) or are otherwise specially authorised by the Secretary of State. To provide consistency for road safety and efficient traffic management, TSRGD specifies that signs used on roads in Great Britain are in English. The Welsh Language Act 1993, however, allows for both Welsh and English to be used on traffic signs placed in Wales and the responsibility for specifying such bilingual signs is a devolved matter.

The UK traffic signing system uses largely symbolic signing for warning and regulatory signs without the use of worded plates to explain the symbols. This means that many signs are fully understandable by drivers even if those drivers do not speak English.