British 'Battenberg' Police markings explained.

[2D]

Back in the 1990's the Chief Inspector of Constabularies carried out an inspection of the Police Forces that Police the M25 (London Orbital) Motorway.

This include the Metropolital Police, Hertfordshire, Essex, Kent, Surrey, Hampshire and Thames Valley.

One of the things that was highlighted in the report was that all of the Police forces had different liveries on their vehicles and it was decided that it could cause confusion for visitors to the UK.

It was decided that a corprate livery should be designed that gave the Police maximum protection when protecting an accident etc.

The Police Scientific Development Branch of the Home Office was given the task and they employed the assistance of Loughborough University.

It was found that the human eye is most sensitive to yellow in daylight conditions and Blue at night time, this is because the eye uses different nerves for day and night vision.

It was also found that because the human eye has rods at the back of it each rod could accomodate one block of colour from 750 feet away.

The 'Battenberg' livery was then designed, additional markings outlined the vehicle so when a cars headlights reflect off of it at night then the approaching driver can identify that it is a vehicle and not a billboard etc.

The chevrons on the rear of the car point upwards to attract the eyes to the sign and lights on the roof of the Police car.

This is now the recomended livery for all Traffic/Fast Road Police vehicles throughout the UK.

The individual forces can put their crest on the bonnet/hood of the vehcile.

Most of the Police Forces in the UK have taken on the livery and most also add the half battenberg markings to all of their other marked units. The half livery has the blue and yellow blocks above the word POLICE along the bottom of the doors.

One of the forces that hasn't addopted the half battenberg livery is the Metropolitan Police (London), who continue to use their orange stripe on silver vehicles. Their Traffic cars do have the full battenberg livery.

 

[motorcade1]

Very interesting history and background on those graphics.  It is really great to learn how such graphics came about and in this case, it makes really good sense with the explanation you provided.  I really appreciate that you took the time out to provide that information for others to learn from.  Thanks 2D....  Thanks Very Much...   

[VadimR]

2D....Thank you for the explanation.   I wonder if the incidents of crashes involving police cars were reduced as a result.   Its definitely an eye-catching design.    The design is being adapted by other countries as well - Sweden, and with some modification, in Spain.

[CFDBASHER]

I had assumed that the Battenberg pattern was a trigger to allow the brain to adjust to the change in parameters along the roadway (sort of like breaking the highway hypnosis state of mind where drivers will aim their cars towards the emergency lights). I guess the patterns do help to identify police vehicles as opposed to the road advertisements. That said, how come you guys still drive on the wrong side of the road?

Thank you for the explanation of the marking graphics. Chuck