Reflective Plastic Roll Factory
Federal regulations require that signs have a high level of reflectivity and meet a certain size, design, and mounting regulations.
Road signs are reflective thanks to the glass beads, microprisms, or encapsulated lenses present on reflective sheeting. These materials bend light, so it comes back to the source, making road signs highly visible at night to drivers with their headlights on. There are three different grades of this sheeting: engineer, high-intensity, and diamond.
Homeowners associations, schools, and businesses are constantly making sure their signs are meeting the high standards set by cities and the federal government.
Reflective sheeting is one of the ways you can increase your sign's visibility and making everyone's lives safer.
Reflectivity is Technically Called Retroreflectivity
The term you will mostly see used by the Federal Highway Administration and other federal regulators is retroreflectivity. What is retroreflectivity and why is it important to incorporate some level of reflective sheeting into your signs?
Retroreflectivity simply refers to the ability of a sign's reflective sheeting to reflect back light. Reflective sheeting is put on signs to increase the night time visibility of signs. This can be huge benefit to parents picking up their kids late from the school parking lot or cities needing highly reflective street signs so that drivers can safely navigate.
More Reflective Signs Could Reduce Traffic Accidents
A federal report looked at where accidents tend to occur and what causes them. It turns out that signals and signs at intersections played a large role in either keeping everyone safe or predisposing drivers to accidents. The report also found that signs with reflective sheeting greatly improve visibility and reduce accidents.
Make Sure Your Signs are Reaching Their Potential
The Federal Highway Administration's report "Maintaining Traffic Sign Retroreflectivity: Impacts on State and Local Agencies," talks about the benefits of reflective sheeting, potential changes to federal rules regarding reflectivity, and why traffic signs with reflective sheeting should be upgraded over time. The report found that the sign's colors fading over time was one of the primary causes of signs being less reflective as the years wore on.
The American Society for Testing Materials makes sure top sign manufacturers conform to federal standards when it comes to sign reflectivity. This means you can buy with confidence knowing the signs you're purchasing are designed to meet federal regulations when it comes to size, design, and reflectivity requirements.
