Plastic Temporary Q-Signs 750mm Supplementary Triangle

What the plate adds to the triangle

A warning triangle tells a driver something is ahead. The supplementary plate underneath tells them what it is, how far away it is, or what to do about it. On its own the triangle is a general warning; with the plate it becomes a specific instruction, and that is what the layout in Chapter 8 expects on an approach.

These are supplied as a complete unit, triangle and plate together on one 750mm Q-sign frame, so there is nothing to fit on site and nothing to lose between jobs.

Distance plates and staging an approach

The distance plates run 100, 200, 300, 400, 600 and 800 yards and 1 mile. They are used in sequence, starting furthest from the works, so a driver gets repeated notice rather than one warning at the point of hazard. On a fast road the first sign goes out at the longest distance you hold, and the run closes with the 100 yard plate.

An "End" plate closes the run at the far side of the works, telling drivers the restriction is finished. Leaving it out is the most common gap in an otherwise correct layout.

Activity plates for mobile and short-duration works

Mobile works move along a road all day, so the warning has to say what the crew is doing rather than mark a fixed point. The activity plates cover grass cutting, hedge cutting, tree cutting, weed spraying, gritting, road sweeping, gully emptying, surveying, line painting, sign erection and sign maintenance, plus a plate reading "mobile road works" for the general case.

These earn their keep on verge maintenance. A driver who can see that a mower is working ahead behaves differently from one told only that men are at work.

Directing traffic and pedestrians

Arrow left and arrow right plates point traffic past the obstruction. "Cyclists dismount" is used where the works narrow a cycle route. "Single file traffic" pairs with the road narrows triangles, and the pairing is deliberate: where the narrowing is mainly on one side the triangle is diagram 517, and where the road is obstructed on both sides roughly equally it is diagram 516, which is almost always used with a single file traffic plate.

Blank and custom plates

A blank plate and a custom plate are stocked for wording no standard plate carries, and a custom 750mm supplementary triangle covers the whole unit. To buy plates on their own and fit them to triangles you already own, see the Q-sign supplementary plates.