When did it all start?

The first road markings/white lines appeared on the road from London to Folkstone back in 1914. Although, some online sources state that the date was actually 1918, and the lines appeared on roads in Birmingham, Sheffield and Leeds. But, despite where and when it all began, throughout the 1920s, the use of road markings grew significantly and were mostly white lines painted on the centre of roads that had a series of hazardous bends and blind corners.

It was during the 1920s, 1926 to be precise, that the Ministry of Transport put together some official guidelines on how and where road markings should be used, what they should look like, and how motorists should use them. From that moment onwards, the uptake of road markings wasn’t as fast as you might think, and throughout the 1930s and beyond, specially trained police officers were still routinely being used where stop lines weren’t.

A solution to safer night-time driving

Despite the slow uptake, by 1934 road markings had become a much more familiar sight on major roads, but one particular issue was drivers not being able to see the white lines at night, therefore drifting across lanes and causing accidents.

A solution came from inventor and businessman, Percy Shaw, who, using his engineering expertise invented Cat's Eyes, which were basically two pairs of retroreflectors set into a white rubber dome, mounted in cast iron housing.

When situated alongside white lines, the Cat's Eyes caught the light of oncoming vehicles, creating a handy lit-up effect. Another benefit of the Cat's Eyes was that when a car drove over one, the rubber surround became a wiper to clean the lens.

And road markings continued to evolve - for good and bad

With Cat's Eyes playing its part in road safety through the 1930s and into the 1940s, the 1950s saw road line designs evolve in various other ways to help improve road safety and to help pedestrians understand where it’s safe to walk.

One of the key road line design introductions of this period was the simple but highly-effective double white lines in the centre of fast-moving roads, designed to warn drivers that it was unsafe to overtake in certain sections. And, in a more ‘controversial’ move, the 1950s also brought with it the dreaded yellow lines (and the fines that came with them), as a way of helping to reduce traffic build-up as the number of vehicles on the road increased.

Road markings continue to evolve

Now, in the 21st Century, with a rarely-changed, fully functioning road marking system in place, road marking design has slowed in its evolution, but the type of road marking applications used continues to leap forward. The road marking ‘paint’ of the old days has now been replaced with applications including thermoplastic, which as well as being ultra-hardwearing, also has the addition of tiny glass beads which act like mini Cat's Eyes. And talking of Cat's Eyes – there are now solar-powered Cat's Eyes, or ‘active studs’ on UK roads which use LED lights that can last for up to 10 days on just 4 hours charge, and can be seen at distances of up to 1000 yards.

Road Marking Contractor

If you’re looking for a road marking contractor for a location anywhere in the UK, contact City Road Markings, one of the UK's leading road line marking and surface coating experts.