Why Your Property Should Comply With New Traffic Regulations
Did you know that new U.S. traffic regulations governing the design, size and reflectivity could affect you? The law affects all privately owned property that qualifies as a being open to public travel. Under this category, you will expect shopping centers, condominiums, hotels, restaurants and hospitals among others to be affected by the new regulatory requirements. If your property is found to have violated the new law and that an accident occurs as a result of non-compliance, you could be liable for all the damages.
The amendments on the US code (U.S.C) by the Federal Highway Administration requiring private property to install the right signs has been informed by the fact that property accidents have been on the rise and that fatalities from these accidents have had a serious impact on the lives of the affected persons.
Retroreflective signs that are properly sized and well installed have been found to improve road safety and reduce highway departure crashes. Since the color, and hence retroreflectivity, of the roadway signs fade with time, property owners are now required by law to ensure that their signs are clearly visible, especially during the night.
A recent report by the FHWA reveals that fatalities at night are three times than during the day. The FHWA estimates that there are about 1,200 fatalities annually occurring on property open to public travel and that 20 percent of traffic accidents occur on private property while 21 percent of all accident claims are those that relate to accidents that occur on private property.
What should Private Property Owners do to comply with the new regulations?
Property owners need to conduct a comprehensive inspection to determine if their property complies with the new regulations. Where the color of the signs have faded, do not have the right color, size or design, owners should replace them. Signs with the wrong height or angle should be corrected as well. They should also replace missing, unclear or hidden signs.
The laws shall be applied in their entirety by 2015, meaning that low-grade reflectivity shall still be accepted until then. By complying with the new regulations now, property owners will have spread over the cost of installing the signs. Property owners need to evaluate their signs, identify those that are non-compliant, replace them with compliant signs.
Who can help you comply with the new traffic regulation?
The Sign Studio has experienced staff to help bring all your property signs up to speed with the new traffic regulation. They can inspect your property to ensure that everything is checked, corrected or updated to meet the current standards. Whether your signs have wrong installation height, color or size, the experts will make necessary changes.
After the installation of signs on your private property, they can also help facilitate the inspection by the local authorities for subsequent issuance of citations and certification. Since your property is the largest investment that you may have, you do not want to expose it to irrecoverable risks, and as such, you want to comply fully to ensure you access full limit claims in the event of a loss. If you are all property owners, you will want to minimize your liability as much as possible, and compliance with the new traffic regulation on retroreflectivity is a great way of cushioning yourself from excess liability. If you are not quite sure if your property complies with the regulation, contact, the Sign Studio, a licensed sign company with the knowledge on the new amendments to assess the property and recommend what should be taken, including performing a complete overhaul of the property signs.
For further informaiton on "Why Your Property Should Comply With New Traffic Regulations" please send us an e-mail at info@signstudiola.com or give us a call at (818) 843-9200.
