In London and the county of West Midlands in the United Kingdom, red routes are major roads on which vehicles are not permitted to stop. The prohibition extends to stopping for loading or unloading, and to boarding or alighting from a vehicle (except for licensed taxis and the holders of blue badges). Red routes are mainly used on major bus and commuting routes.
Red routes are marked with red lines at the sides of the road. Double red lines mean that the regulations apply at all times and on all days. Single red lines means that the prohibition applies during times displayed on nearby signs or at the entry to the zone. Red route clearways are signed but there are no lines on the road. Stopping is only permitted in lay-bys (red lines are only marked at junctions).
The 580 km of red routes in London are policed by "Red Route Patrols" and managed by London Streets, an arm of Transport for London.
A similar scheme operates in Edinburgh; here, however, the routes affected – being marked by the use of green road-surfacing rather than red lines – are known as "Greenways".
In Somerset, the local road safety partnership has designated some of the A roads within the county as "Red Routes", but in this case the term is used to indicate routes that have a higher than average accident rate.
Famous quotes containing the words red and/or route:
“It was almost two years ago, while awaiting the imminent birth of my second child, that I decided to start working part-time. This would have been unthinkable to me when I was younger. At twenty-five I should have worn a big red A on my chest; it would have stood for ambition, an ambition so brazen and burning that it would have reduced Hester Prynne’s transgression to pale pink.”
—Anna Quindlen (20th century)
“In the mountains the shortest route is from peak to peak, but for that you must have long legs. Aphorisms should be peaks: and those to whom they are spoken should be big and tall of stature.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)