Yellow box markings are being enforced with fines in more and more of the UK (Picture: Alamy)
Thousands of yellow box road junctions could be unfairly lumping drivers with fines as they are much bigger than necessary, a new study suggests.
Analysis commissioned by the RAC looked at the 100 boxes in London and Cardiff which were responsible for the most fines in the most recent pre-pandemic year, 2019.
All but two of them were found to be larger than needed to stop idle vehicles blocking traffic.
The average box was found to be up to 50% bigger than necessary, but some were up to twice the necessary size.
More than half (53) are not under traffic light control, which means they could be easily converted to ‘keep clear’ markings which have the same purpose without risking fines for violations.
Meanwhile, 22 of these appeared to be ‘not compliant’ with regulations on traffic sign design updated in 2016.
The analysis was carried out by chartered engineer Sam Wright, who was formerly responsible for the design and approval of yellow boxes on roads managed by Transport for London (TfL).
This junction in Hammersmith was linked to more fines than any other and 80% of it was deemed to be redundant
Rod Dennis of the RAC said it’s ‘vital’ that the boxes are ‘designed first and foremost with aiding traffic flow, and that they don’t exist simply to raise revenue from drivers’.
He said: ‘Unfortunately, any box that is bigger than needed – whether that’s due to an oversight on the council’s part or because it was painted on the road many years ago and hasn’t been reviewed – risks drivers being fined unnecessarily when their actions haven’t contributed to congestion.
‘We fear that unnecessary penalties are going to mushroom in the coming years as more councils start enforcing yellow boxes, unless a responsible approach to the design and enforcement of them is taken.
‘That’s why we need the Government to urgently issue fresh guidance to local authorities.’
Markings showing the 68% of a box junction in Cardiff which was deemed redundant
Although the study only looked at 100 boxes in London and Cardiff, there is no major difference in how road markings are managed elsewhere.
This means thousands more across the UK may be larger than necessary to help traffic flow.
The two cities were singled out because they were the first places in the UK where the powers to enforce traffic laws was handed from police to councils.
In many other parts of the country, such offences are not enforced, although this changing in the wake of new rules in 2022 allowing councils to apply for enforcement powers.
Yet government guidance from 2022, aimed primarily at these councils states: ‘Enforcement action should not commence at any location where contraventions could be avoided by reasonable improvements to the highway or to traffic signs, and not until such improvements are made and appropriate monitoring has been carried out’.
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