Highways Agency

• Driver Location Signs
• Trial of Driver Location Signs

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What does the letter on the second line of the signs mean?

The letter on the second line of the signs is called the carriageway identifier. It tells the emergency services or the Highways Agency which direction you are travelling in.

For example, on the M11, the ‘A’ carriageway is northbound, or ‘away’ from London and the ‘B’ carriageway is southbound, or ‘back’ to London. Drivers will also see the letters J and M on signs on the M11. These represent the spur roads on and off the carriageway.

On the M25:

• "A" is the clockwise direction of the M25 main carriageway.
• "B" is the anti-clockwise direction of the M25 main carriageway.

If the driver location sign is on a slip road, the carriageway identifier will be H or K or L or M depending upon the location.

When reporting a road traffic incident or debris, knowing the direction that you are travelling in leads to a quicker response by the emergency services and traffic officers, thereby reducing the severity of incidents. 

2. What do the numbers mean on the third line of the signs?

The numbers indicate the distance from a defined point on the network, measured in kilometres. For example, on the M25, the distance is measured clockwise round the M25 from the Dartford crossing. This enables the emergency services to determine the location of an incident to within 500 metres.

3. Are the distances shown on driver location signs 100% accurate?

The distance shown on a driver location sign is accurate to within 20 metres. The aim is that the driver location sign will be located as close as possible to the distance marker post and therefore the sign will show the same distance as shown on the nearby distance marker post.

4. Why do we need more signs on the motorway?

Driver location signs are designed to be visible from the road whilst travelling and to identify your precise location without the need to stop the vehicle. Currently many road users carry a mobile phone. This can be used safely either with a hands free kit or by a passenger to report an incident. The information on the signs tells the emergency services where to locate the incident to within 500 metres resulting in a speedier response to the scene.

5. On which routes will driver location signs be installed?

In 2007-2008, signs are being installed on these routes. You can also view more information about the original trial of driver location signs.

6. Where will the driver location signs be positioned?

Driver location signs will be located on the near side verge of the road at every 500m. In certain locations the spacing will be 400 metres or 300 metres to avoid locating the sign where road users could not easily see it, such as beneath or after a bridge.

7. What happens if I break down in between two signs?

If a driver needs to stop in an emergency, then he/she would follow the standard protocol already in existence. The driver location signs are not replacing the existing distance marker posts (which are positioned every 100 metres) or the emergency telephones that can be used for assistance.

8. Is there a standard sign design for all types of road?

The design of driver location signs is the same, for motorways and “A” roads, to ease driver understanding of the new signs:

• Yellow legend
• Blue background
• White border

9. How will the HA ensure that road users know what driver location signs are?

The Highways Agency will be holding a national press launch to help publicise the purpose of driver location signs, with a press notice for each of the areas.

Leaflets and the HA website are available to road users that include information on driver location signs.

10. How will you ensure the emergency services / vehicle rescue companies / traffic officers know what driver location signs are?

Regional Control Centre staff, emergency services, vehicle rescue companies and traffic officers are briefed, so that they are aware of what the signs are and how to use the information on them to the best effect. 

11. Aren’t traffic signs supposed to be in imperial units, not metric?

For more than 30 years, distance marker posts have been provided at 100 metre intervals along each hard shoulder of motorways. These are used for maintenance purposes (e.g. to enable maintenance contractors to identify exactly where repair works are needed). Also, they show the direction to the nearest motorway emergency phone.

When a driver uses one of the motorway emergency telephones, the RCC operator knows the precise location of the caller. However, with the increased use of mobile telephones by drivers in an emergency, police may not be able to quickly locate the scene of an incident, as drivers sometimes are not sure of their location. Also, on many all purpose roads, there are no emergency telephones. Therefore, at a number of trial sites, both on motorways and on all purpose roads, driver location signs have been erected by the Highways Agency at regular intervals (e.g. every 500 metres in each direction). These traffic signs use the same motorway referencing system as the distance marker posts, to enable the driver to identify, and the emergency services to rapidly locate, the scene of an incident without any confusion. The signs show the route number, the carriageway identifier and the kilometerage.

The EU Directive on units of measurement provide for the continuation in use in the UK of imperial units for road traffic signs, speeds and distance measurement, until a date to be fixed by the UK Government. The EU do not specify a deadline for fixing a date and the Government has no plans to change the imperial units still in use.

The design of the driver location sign was agreed with the Department for Transport in 2003.