History of Road Line Marking in United States
The history of road line marking started in the United States in Wayne County in Michigan. This is where the first ever line markings were introduced back in 1911. This was a centre line painted along Trenton’s River Road with the purpose being to separate the traffic coming from opposite directions. The story behind this first painted centre line was that the idea came to Edward Hines after seeing a leaking milk wagon leave a white trail along a road.
Following this early use of road lines by 1922 all major road in Wayne County had centre line road markings painted on them. Edward Hines is now considered to be the instigator of the most important single highway traffic safety device – that is line markings.
Prior to 1954 both yellow and white paint were used in the United States for line marking. In 1954 it was decided that only white paint was to be used. However by 1971 they reverted back to yellow line markings.
History of Road Line Marking in the UK
In the United Kingdom the first road white line markings were made in 1918. The line marking actually preceded the road rules regarding them. Due to the rapid increase of painted road lines in the UK that occurred during the 1920’s the First Ministry of Transport provided official guidelines on their use. This took place in 1926.
In Britain the first road line markings were the white lines down the middle of the road to separate traffic. They were next used at intersections (junctions) including stop streets this was in the 1930’s. The next use was for defining carriageway edges and entries of side roads as well as defining lay-bys.
In the 1950’s the first yellow road line markings were introduced in the UK. At this time line markings were also introduced in the United Kingdom to depict waiting, loading and unloading areas. The use of double white lines to restrict overtaking occurred in 1959. The 1960’s saw further new line markings introduced in Britain creating the system of line marking that is now in existence. Yellow box junctions were introduced for the first time as well in the 1960’s..
History of Road Line Marking in Australia
Line markings were first used in Australia in Sydney in the 1920’s. Their first use was to mark pedestrian crossings and also included the use of metal studs. In 1928 the Sydney police themselves painted central lines along the roads. The first line marking machines were used in Sydney in 1938.
This article was written by Access Linemarking Equipment distributors of line marking machines in Australia. The information in this article is based upon information obtained from different sources and is to the best of our knowledge accurate.