These findings are drawn from a major survey conducted by the Department for Transport (DfT) which asked 55% of England’s highway authorities about the condition of their traffic light signals. 

Roughly half of those questioned reported a maintenance backlog of more than £1m. This means, across England’s 150 authorities, costs are likely to total in excess of £80m. 

In addition to maintenance expenses, repairing faulty signals takes up a significant amount of the annual budget; 40% of local authorities reported an average spend of £100,000 per year. 

Acknowledging these statistics, TTF has called for traffic signalling to be upgraded nationwide. Installing newer, more reliable equipment will likely be more cost-effective than tackling mounting maintenance and repair costs. 

The survey found that around one-third of authorities have no, or very few, of the latest SCOOT or MOVA adaptively controlled signals. Additionally, 80% of highways authorities are yet to install wireless or mobile communications advances. 

Steve Gooding, director of the RAC and TTF chairman, said: “there is real potential to make an immediate difference to traffic and the safety of active travel by upgrading signalling.”   

“The more we look into the real-world state of our traffic signals the more potential we are finding for relatively inexpensive but important improvements – including repairs, refurbishment or simply retuning systems – to deliver benefits for traffic flow generally and for promoting active travel.” 

Stay up to speed with the latest in road safety news by checking out the Anglo Liners blog every week. Alternatively, click here for a free quote.