Road Markings: Life Line of Road Safety

From a humble beginning of manufacturing only thermoplastic road marking material two decades back, the Nagpur based Automark Industries (India) has now started manufacturing a range of road marking materials and road safety products. Nasim Khan, Senior General Manger, Automark Industries (India) Pvt. Ltd spoke to Trafficinfratech.

Automark has evolved from basic road safety tools like road markings to integral elements of traffic management and micro mobility?

Automark entered the world of road safety products in the year 1988 with the manufacture of the first road marking machines in India with remarkable success and response. A decade later, we started importing thermoplastic road marking material and glass beads and formed a separate division for execution of road marking with exhaustive range of automatic and semi-automatic machineries working throughout the country. Today Automark Industries is looked upon as not only a supplier but as a solution provider for Road Safety by all stake holders in the Road Construction Industry.

Automark has been working with the industry leaders and quality buyers to enhance the quality of road markings on the highways. The Company believes that quality road markings are lifeline of road safety and provide ease to the drivers.

What are the various products and equipment Automark is offering?

The thermoplastic road marking products from Automark strictly meet the MoRTH 803.4 specification and provide enhanced long-term durability and retro-reflectivity thereby saving precious lives.

The innovative Hot and Cold Applied Rumble Stripes / Rib Marking or Profile Marking provide Audio Tactile Warning and act as traffic calming device on various road and highways. The coloured surfacing cold plastic material beautifies the traffic intersections & traffic islands and also enhances road safety.

 The semi-automatic and fully automatic road marking machines having innovative Ribbed and Profile marking units make the machine versatile and provide faster execution of projects.

 Our Water borne flat paints and Retro-Reflective waterborne paints are most suitable for airfield markings.

The fast growing iLite +, brand of Raised Reflective Pavement Markers have approvals from various consultants and meet and surpass all the requirements of MoRTH and IRC. These RPMs are very well taken in the market and have been applied on various prestigious highways providing durability and retro-reflectivity on highways.

Automark is also sole distributors of ZIRROCO Hammerjet Road Surface Dryers which help in drying the road surfaces on highways as well as airports thereby allowing the team to execute the marking even when the road surface is dry and work is halted. These Jet dryers use dry heat and clean the surfaces much faster so that the marking works are not hampered.

 

What are the challenges still persisting in the road marking industry, and how is your company addressing them?

The Road marking industry is fast growing and majority of the world is still using the Thermoplastic Road Marking due to its durability and economical viability. There are few innovations in the field with materials like 2K cold plastic getting importance due to its higher durability but the use of 2K cold plastics is still restricted to its use on specific areas like pedestrian crossings etc. due to its higher initial cost per sqmtr.

Although, the market for hot applied thermoplastic road marking is growing, there are concerns of quality and durability due to low cost products not meeting the specification being sold in higher volumes. The buyers are either not aware of the technicalities of the product and are taken for a ride by low cost material suppliers or the buyers themselves insist on buying low cost non-specification products. The low cost products are not meeting the specification and are three times less durable than the product which meets the specification.

There is also this concern about the Specification itself as the MoRTH specification leaves an open playing ground for low-cost suppliers and get away by just demonstrating the retro-reflectivity during initial seven days of application. The retro-reflectivity is also a function of intermix glass beads mixed in the product during the production itself and should be at least 20% by weight as per BS specification and 30% intermix as per MoRTH 803 specifications.

The initial retro-reflectivity in the initial days is achieved by the Drop-On Glass beads which is sprayed over the marking simultaneously during application of the thermoplastic road marking. The specified quantity of Drop-On Glass beads is 250gms per sqmtr to be sprayed over the marking during application. This glass beads provide only initial retro-reflectivity that gets diminished very fast and lasts only for 2-3 months depending on the traffic density.

The long-term retro-reflectivity is achieved by the amount of intermix glass beads. Since there is no specification to check the retro-reflectivity periodically, and the retro-reflectivity measure is asked by the specification only after the DLP period of two years, the low-cost suppliers / buyers can easily get away by showing / demonstrating the initial retro-reflectivity and get their payments even when the product may not meet the specification.

 Our Flagship Specsmark Thermoplastic Road markings provide long term durability and retro-reflectivity on the expressways and highways. Automark’s iLite+ brand of Reflective Raised Pavement Markers are 100% Made in India and provide durability and long-term retro-reflectivity on highways and provide Audio-Tactile warning when a driver crosses a lane. The excellent night visibility of iLite + RPMs enhances safety at night at a much reasonable rate than the available international brands.