History
Battenburg markings were originally developed in the mid-1990s in the UK by the Police Scientific Development Branch (PSDB) (now the Home Office Scientific Development Branch (HOSDB)) at the request of the national motorway policing sub-committee of the Association of Chief Police Officers. They were first developed for the United Kingdom police forces to use on traffic patrol cars, although other private organisations and civil emergency services have since started to use the pattern on their vehicles.
The brief was to create a livery for motorway and trunk road police vehicles which would maximise the visibility of the vehicles when stopped on scene, both in daylight, and under headlights from a minimum distance of 500m, and which would distinctively mark it as a police car.
The key research objectives included:
- Enhance officer and public safety by reducing the likelihood of road accidents where conspicuity of the police vehicle is a factor
- Be recognisable as a police vehicle up to a distance of 500 metres in normal daylight
- Assist in high visibility policing so as to reassure the public and enhance the potential deterrent benefits of proactive traffic patrol activity
The research showed the human eye is most sensitive to blue/green shades at night and yellow/green in daylight. The battenburg design typically comprises two or more rows of alternating retroreflective squares or blocks, usually starting with yellow at the top, then the alternating colour, along the sides of a vehicle. The battenburg livery is not used on the rear of vehicles, with the majority of users using upward facing chevrons in yellow and red to the rear, in line with the markings used by other road users. While most cars use only two rows in the design, larger vehicles can be marked with more rows.
Read more about this topic: Battenburg Markings
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