Traffic Signs May Change Depending on the Time of Day

All changes aimed at improving the safety of road traffic organization relate to technical measures of road traffic organization, including signs, markings, and traffic lights. This was stated during a meeting with journalists today, January 30, by Arusyak Khachatryan, a senior specialist in the Road Policy Department of the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure of Armenia.

She noted that, for example, the maximum speed limit near schools can be set at 20, 30, or 40 km/h; however, the same sign remains in place after 3 PM or on weekends, which forces drivers to drive slower unnecessarily. She commented, "In such cases, we can install variable signs that would limit the speed to 40 km/h, and afterward allow it to return to 60 km/h, which will prevent unnecessary artificial traffic congestion. With these changes, we have been given the opportunity to apply newly emerged technical measures for traffic organization that are used in different countries around the world."

She added that the signs would be replaced with electronic versions that display different signs at different times. Additionally, they propose to use pedestrian signs at uncontrolled pedestrian crossings. "This is a measure to enhance visibility for drivers. We have identified pedestrian crossings that have three or more lanes in each direction, and we expect that the sign will also hang from above. For regulated pedestrian crossings, we have added a point allowing the road manager to choose whether to hang a sign from above, which can be used at traffic-light regulated crossings as well."

According to her, a new innovation is the marking of diagonal pedestrian crossings, meaning vehicles in all directions at an intersection must stop, allowing pedestrians to cross diagonally. This traffic organization is implemented at those intersections where pedestrian traffic is very high - with 900 people or more per hour.