Who is responsible for installing road signs?
Formally, the local road service is responsible for the condition of the road and all its facilities. However, in practice this can be done by several organs at once:
- Federal Office for Traffic Management (Ministry of Transport, Rosavtodor),
- department of a subject (region or city of Russia) for organizing the installation of road signs, traffic lights, markings (usually the local traffic department),
- The traffic police monitors the legality of their installation.
The good news is that you can check the road sign through all the specified departments, and you can submit an appeal online.
Who installs road signs? Rules for installing road signs
Try to imagine a situation where in the modern world, on busy highways, a stream of cars moves without road signs. Absurd, isn't it? It is road signs that help all road users to drive correctly and be responsible for the safety of passengers. Who installs road signs?
Meaning
A road sign is an integral part and technical means for the safe organization of traffic. If we go into theory, then a road sign (or sign) is a signal element of a certain shape, which clearly according to the rules contains various symbols or inscriptions. They are designed to inform road users about various conditions, as well as the direction and modes of movement.
Absolutely every driver should understand the meaning of all road signs. It’s not for nothing that they pay close attention to them when training in driving schools. But this applies not only to people who have a car. A pedestrian should also have banal knowledge about the meanings of this or that sign. How are the signs placed? Who is doing this? All this will be discussed in the article.
Rules for installing road signs
The most important condition when placing signs is that they must all be clearly located in accordance with the rules and GOSTs and not interfere with the movement of vehicles and pedestrians. There are many factors to consider when installing signage. These include the illumination of a section of the road, the flow and nature of traffic in the area, and also the driver’s ability to distinguish and perceive signs in the dark. Signs must be installed so that the driver, under any road conditions, can notice them at least 150 meters away. This is done not only so that the driver can perceive the information from this sign, but also so that he has time to process the received data and behave in accordance with the information received.
Service
Who installs road signs? This will be discussed below. Who checks the correctness of the arrangement? This is done by a special road service, the purpose of which is to carefully inspect the presence and correct installation of road signs. Employees of the organization monitor the placement of signs and record data (check results) in a special journal.
Also, representatives of the road service compare the actual installation of signs with the provisions of GOST and put a mandatory signature in the log under the point of control of correct placement.
Requirements for installation of signs
The most important condition when installing road signs is that absolutely every sign must be located in a strictly defined place in accordance with the rules of the state standard GOST. The special document also describes detailed information on how to install a road sign on a particular section of the road. It is very important. Current legislation regulates the rules for installing road signs, which must be observed by representatives of authorized bodies.
In addition to the road service, a body such as the road directorate can check the correct installation of signs, markings and other markings. The amount of work and the availability of employees of this body will depend on the territorial location of the installed road signs. In addition to the above functions, the Road Directorate can monitor the appropriateness and correctness of the installation of signs, as well as propose changes.
Installation locations
Where are the signs located? Before clarifying this issue, you should pay attention to one more nuance - temporary signs. These are pointers that are not included in the general rules. Road authorities must install such signs in a timely manner, and also remove them immediately when they lose their relevance for any reason.
What rules exist for correct installation of signs? Here are some of them that regulate the location of signs. Road signs should only be installed:
- on the side of the road outside the territory of a populated area;
- above the road, on road slopes or outside the sidewalk in mountainous areas.
Also an important condition: signs must be installed at a distance of fifty centimeters to two meters from the road on rough terrain and on the dividing strip or above the road as a repeat of the signs.
For road signs, additional fastenings and supports can be installed for more secure retention. But the documents stipulate that such actions are permitted only if there is an embankment, cliffs or ditches on the section of the route. It is also worth considering that the above rules require the location of signs no further than one meter from the road or side of the road. One of the most common signs prohibits parking; how it looks and works is well described in this article: https://businessman.ru/new-znak-zapreshhayushhij-parkovku-zona-dejstviya.html.
Placement methods
The question of how to install road signs is no less important than all the others. When installing road signs, it is worth following some simple rules to achieve maximum success and correct placement. The setting must be made within, outside or between the parameter block boundaries. Signs can also be installed on an impact-proof support if there are no other barriers on the road.
It is also possible to install signs on a specially constructed L-shaped support. There are many more options for installing the appropriate signs, but, again, to do this you need to refer to the GOST rules, since the list of actions is very large. As stated earlier, signs must be installed at a certain distance to protect drivers from road accidents.
Road sign coverage area
Recently, situations have been occurring where drivers do not understand the meaning of the “Value Area” sign. This sign is very universal, and its meaning can only be determined by the signs that stand in close proximity to it. This sign warns road users about the operation of a particular road sign, based on the provisions of GOST.
Who is responsible for installing road signs?
Most drivers and ordinary citizens mistakenly think that road signs in traffic areas are installed by employees of the State Road Safety Inspectorate. However, this is not quite true. Which organization installs road signs?
Representatives of special road services, which were already discussed just above, are responsible for the installation, maintenance and operation of road signs. If the sign requires installation during the construction or repair of any facility, then the above-mentioned representatives in this case will be powerless, and employees of the State Military Inspectorate must be involved with them. What do traffic police officers do?
Their authority extends only to assessing the correctness of signs already installed and verifying compliance with the placement rules. The final decision on the installation and operation of a road sign is ultimately made by employees of the State Administrative and Technical Inspectorate. That's the whole answer to the question of who has the right to install road signs.
Installation of illegal signs
Who installs road signs in populated areas? This issue is important for the territory of our country and road safety. One of the most pressing problems recently is the installation of officially unregistered signs on the territory of a particular entity. Private firms, enterprises or organizations, for the sake of making their own profit, very often place on their territories signs “Paid parking”, “Parking is prohibited for everyone except enterprise employees”, “No parking of cars” and many other unofficial signs. But are these actions legal? The answer is simple. Such road signs are illegal, and when inspecting enterprises, representatives of these companies may be subject to administrative liability and a fine.
If you notice such a sign on the territory of any enterprise, you must immediately contact the road inspection staff to report the fact of illegal installation of road signs. Arriving authorized bodies must remove the sign from this place.
Road signs not installed in accordance with GOST
Many drivers are very unhappy when they find themselves in a situation where a sign is installed in front of them that does not comply with GOST rules. But here a difficult question arises: is it necessary to follow the rules that this sign prescribes? Or is the best solution when seeing such a sign to completely ignore it? According to the rules of the road, a traffic participant must follow the instructions only of those signs that were installed only in accordance with the rules of GOST.
But you shouldn’t be so principled, because failure to follow such signs can create an emergency situation, for which the driver will have to answer for an administrative fine. If you still understand that it is not your fault, then you will have to take care of real evidence that the sign was actually installed not according to the rules. If there is no evidence that the sign is installed incorrectly, then it is better not to take risks and follow the traffic rules.
Conclusion
Currently, we need to take the safe organization of traffic seriously, because this is a very important, socially significant area. At the moment, in the modern world there is a great growth and active development of cities, an increase in the number of cars and the emergence of new engineering structures and structures, which simply obliges us to take the installation of road signs seriously.
The article provided detailed information about who issues permission to install a road sign, which organization installs the signs, and which agency’s representatives monitor their correct location. The article also provided specific rules that regulate the installation of certain road signs, for example, where and at what distance from the highway the signs should be located. The main thing on the road is to be extremely careful.
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Can I put my own sign?
Neither an individual nor a legal entity has the right to simply dig up his own road sign. However, a person can initiate the installation of an element of the road network by sending the same request as by analogy with checking the legality of the installation of a sign.
What about in yards and on private property?
It's also impossible. In general, a direct ban on putting up signs without authorization in 2021 is prohibited by traffic regulations. In particular, paragraph 1.5 indicates that the Rules prohibit the independent installation of technical means of traffic management.
Of course, if you put a sign in your private yard, there will be no penalty for it. But if we are talking about an apartment building, then you cannot arbitrarily install any signs, barriers, traffic lights, or other organizational means.
You will also be interested in:
- Road speed signs on a blue background: what are the limits and the permitted speed?
- Road sign “Parking prohibited” according to traffic regulations: what is the coverage area, where and who can park?
- Changes in traffic rules in March 2021: new road sign 6.22 Photo and video recording
Illegally installed road signs
In any case, the placement of a sign is illegal if it has not been approved by road services and the traffic police.
On what basis are road signs installed and who has the right to place them? Not all citizens know the correct answer to this question.
Many people mistakenly believe that the traffic police is responsible for installing signs on roads. Since 2014, this service has not coordinated the design and traffic management schemes, but remains a supervisory body. Coordination is carried out by road owners, and in Moscow by the Department of Transport and Road Infrastructure and the Moscow Government Traffic Management Center subordinate to it. By law, organizations that install road signs must have a license for this activity, as well as an approved traffic management project.
Who is in control?
We indicated above that responsibility for road maintenance rests with the road service. However, the State Traffic Inspectorate also has the right to control the actions of the latter. In particular, the traffic police are given the rights to:
- exercise supervision over the condition of road signs (clause 59 of the Administrative Regulations introduced by Order No. 664),
- issue orders to eliminate traffic violations to municipal and other authorities regarding the dismantling or, conversely, installation of signs (clause 21, paragraph 1, article 19 of the Law on Police)
Is it possible to install a road sign without authorization?
Places for technical means of organizing traffic are regulated by law, as well as the requirements for them are put forward by GOST. According to the rules, it is prohibited to remove, block or install signs at your own discretion (clause 1.5 of the traffic rules); these actions must be coordinated with the relevant authorities. Unauthorized installation of road signs involves liability in the form of a fine. The scale of sanctions differs for different categories of persons. Thus, according to Article 12.33 of the Code of Administrative Offenses in 2021, the following sanctions apply to those responsible for illegally erecting a sign, other technical means, or independently applying markings:
- 5-10,000 rubles for citizens;
- 25,000 rubles for officials;
- 300,000 rubles for legal entities.
Thus, as a result of unauthorized installation, punishment will inevitably follow, which will be borne by those responsible, since according to the traffic rules, a sign located in the wrong place can be regarded as an object that poses a safety threat, creates obstacles during movement and unlawfully restricts drivers. Having seen such a sign, a motorist should not follow its instructions and has the right to remove it from the route; you can also contact the relevant authorities with a request to dismantle the object. As for temporary signs, in the case of road repair work or climatic phenomena, they are installed for a certain period of time, for example, for a season, construction period, etc., and the decision on this fact is made by the State Administrative and Technical Inspectorate.
Installation is carried out in accordance with the traffic plan, agreed with some government services, including the traffic police. The diagram, as well as the register containing each technical means that regulates traffic in a particular locality, are located in the Directorate for Traffic Management.
Objects not on the register were placed in violation of the law and must be dismantled. Temporary signs are not included in the general rules; they are installed for a certain period, so they must be installed and dismantled in a timely manner.
How and where to submit an application online?
So, we have 3 services where you can apply:
- traffic police,
- federal traffic safety controller,
- municipal security authority.
Please note that the last two are general and more specific departments of the same organization. But they consider, accordingly, signs at different levels:
- The federal body has the authority to dismantle and install road signs on federal highways (those whose names contain the letter “M” at the beginning - for example, on the M7 highway) - as indicated in Article 5 of Federal Law No. 443 On the organization of road traffic,
- regional road workers check the legality of signs on intercity highways that are not federal (Article 6 of the same law),
- but the maintenance of elements of local (city and other populated areas) roads is carried out by municipal bodies - administration and the like (Article 7).
Thus, you can submit your appeal on the following resources:
- on the official website of Rosavtodor regarding federal roads (sample application on their website),
- on the official resource of the regional department regarding regional routes - just enter in the search “[your city] government body of the constituent entity of the Russian Federation in the field of traffic management” - for example, for Tatarstan this will be the website of the Ministry of Transport, for the Krasnodar Territory - a similar Ministry,
- or on the website of the local municipal authority - you can also find it by searching; for example, in Moscow it is the data center, in St. Petersburg it is the DODD.
Accordingly, you can submit an appeal through the online reception of these services. Only for Moscow this will no longer be the official website of the data center, but a single transport portal of the capital.
But in St. Petersburg, the DODD website does not provide online appeals. But you can write an email using the application template.
In addition, do not forget that we can still contact the traffic police with the same statement (but we will not be able to copy the text from the letter to the road service here - the site has a ban on contextual commands).
Road sign Repair work: requirements for drivers
When a motorist sees this sign, he should begin to reduce speed and carefully monitor the situation on the road. By the way, you need to know that employees of road maintenance services have all the corresponding rights of a traffic controller. They can stop the flow of vehicles at any second or independently indicate the path to avoid obstacles.
As already mentioned, the “Road Works” sign is necessary in order to ensure traffic safety on certain sections of the road (pictures are attached). Moreover, safety is required both by the workers themselves and their mechanisms, and directly by road users. By the way, this pointer is almost always temporary.
Do not forget that a temporary sign on the road has an advantage over markings, as well as over other icons and symbols used to regulate traffic in this area. The sign can often be installed together with a sign number 3.24 (limiting the maximum permissible speed), or an auxiliary sign indicating the distance to a dangerous section of the road.
This sign warns the motorist in advance in order to give him every opportunity to organize traffic in the necessary manner. The 1.25 sign can be set several times.
GOST standards for signs
Meanwhile, certain road structures and objects may not always arouse your suspicions. Thus, the regulation of requirements for road signs is very strict, including their sizes, colors, area ratio, objects drawn on them, materials of manufacture and other characteristics - all this is regulated by GOST R52290-2004.
Therefore, even if you have the slightest doubt not only about the legality of installing a sign, but also about its compliance with GOST, you can write to the appropriate authority to check its installation on a given section of the road and compliance with technical requirements.
Something else useful for you:
- Application "Euro Accident Report" - how to officially register an accident over the phone?
- Are GOSTs mandatory in road traffic or not?
- Is it necessary to comply with reduced traffic signs?
How to check the legality of installing a road sign
The location of the signs can be found in the city traffic management directorate, in Moscow this is the Traffic Management Center (TCOC). The register identifies every sign erected in the city. If he is absent, then his location is illegal, and this is a reason for bringing him to administrative responsibility.
For example, it is illegal to install a sign “Parking for employees only” near the territory of an enterprise, since it restricts the rights of other citizens. It is also illegal for residents to unauthorizedly place a “No Entry” sign in their yard. In such situations, any citizen can contact the traffic inspectorate. The task of the employees who arrived at the signal will be to dismantle the illegally placed sign and find those responsible for imposing penalties under Article 12.33 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation.
If you comply with all standards and norms, then obtaining a traffic police permit in most cases is not difficult. It is important that the sign is in the visibility zone of everyone for whom it is intended and for whom it is intended; the view should not be obscured by plants, external lighting, advertising stands, or passing vehicles. A customer in need of such a service turns to licensed organizations that install road signs, which design, manufacture and place the sign. These services also deal with coordination and obtaining permits from the relevant structures.
Is there an obligation to comply with such signs?
If a road sign in a given place is installed illegally and without permission, then there should be no punishment for non-compliance with it, since in essence the event of violation itself is absent. For example, if someone independently placed a “Brick” in front of the entrance to a residential yard without permission, then in this case a fine for driving under it is illegal, because from the point of view of the Rules this object is not familiar.
On the other hand, if there is a violation of GOST, then when appealing the decision, for example, you will also need to prove that it was this violation of the installation of the sign that led to your violation. For example, the posted speed limit was not visible because the sign was overgrown with branches of a nearby tree. Then you will have to show dashcam video or provide other evidence that you could not see the maximum speed on the road sign.
Legal ways to install road signs
The rules for placing road signs are regulated by law and, in accordance with current legislation, installation and maintenance are carried out by the Directorate for Traffic Management under the local government authority. Traffic police officers monitoring order on the road and compliance with traffic rules are also authorized to identify violations, such as ignoring the rules for installing signs, including their non-compliance with GOST standards. If there is a need for installation in order to avoid punishment for unauthorized installation of a road sign, it is important to act within the framework of the law and coordinate this action with the necessary authorities. Otherwise, a fine is guaranteed. Thus, when it was necessary to place a road sign, you first need to coordinate the installation with the traffic police, for this you need to:
- Draw up a traffic management diagram for the area where the sign will be installed (you can do it yourself);
- The required indicator must comply with GOST rules, so it should be ordered from an organization that has a manufacturing license. Otherwise, the inspection will refuse the installation;
- Submit an application addressed to the head of the government agency, indicating the reason for the installation;
- The inspection assesses whether it is possible to install a sign in the specified location and, if the standards are met, a permit is issued and a lease agreement for municipal property (a pole or other object where the sign will be fixed) is drawn up;
- The road sign is placed in accordance with the standards, therefore, after receiving a permit, you should contact the organization that installs them.
Even if an object is installed in accordance with the law, you can also legally demand its demolition if the requirements for the installation of technical means are violated. Installation is regulated by the Directions for the Use of Road Signs, which explain in detail what requirements they must meet. Thus, according to paragraph 6.112, signs prohibiting stopping or parking can be installed only when vehicles will interfere with the required capacity on a given section of the road. It is not difficult to install a sign if circumstances require it; the main condition is compliance with legal standards. By coordinating the installation with the relevant authorities and strictly following accepted standards, you can legally solve the problem of organizing traffic on the territory of the enterprise and other areas.
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