Malaysia came up with the idea of ​​painting its roads fluorescent to illuminate them at night. The problem was the price

In February 2024 we saw that the continuous line of a good part of the A-355, one of the roads with more accidents of Spanish territory, dawned with a thick continuous red line. It was a pilot measure by the DGT to highlight the prohibition of overtaking on that road. A few weeks earlier, a similar program was developed in Malaysia: repainting the road markings of certain roads with a photoluminescent paint.

Not even a year has passed and it seems that they will not continue painting. The reason? It is too expensive, which has raised the question of… and they hadn’t thought of that before?

The pilot. In mid-November 2023, the Government of Malaysia advertisement the launch of a pilot program that aimed to highlight the lines of certain roads. Using photoluminescent paint with the ability to glow at night. The authorities commented that these initiatives were suitable for dark areas that lacked public lighting.

The lines shine for 10 hours and, in case of heavy rain, they also give off a certain shine that helps make them more visible, allowing drivers to stay in their lane. The images leave no room for doubt: it looks much better than the traditional white line, also better than reflective indicators.

The project attracted attention. Initially, only 245 meters of road were painted at one intersection, representing about 490 meters of road markings, but other states began to carry out their own tests.

Almost 20 times more expensive. The problems came practically from the beginning. The Malaysian Ministry of Works already warned that they were going to be very attentive to the results of the pilot program and the ability to paint on other roads, since the price of the new paint could be a problem.

And so much so that it has ended up being an inconvenience. From the Ministry of Works reported that conventional paint costs about 40 ringgit per square meter, about 8.65 euros. Photoluminescent paint costs 749 ringgit per square meter, more than 160 euros. It costs 19 times more per square meter.

Putting on the brake. Despite the enthusiasm with which the population received the measure, Malaysia’s deputy labor minister, Ahmad Maslan, commented a few weeks ago that it was not likely that they would continue painting. “The cost is too high, so we probably won’t continue with glow-in-the-dark lanes,” stated.

It is curious when, months before, 31 roads had been identified that could have received this type of paint. Maslan stated that the tests did not meet the expectations of the ministry’s experts, without giving further explanations.

Questions and suspicions. This is part of the eternal debate about priorities, budget and security, since we must remember that the areas that were going to receive this type of paintings are wooded and lack lighting, making it dangerous to travel through them due to interactions between humans. as by the action of animals crossing each other.

And, evidently, the news has raised suspicions of corruption in local mediawith users who wondered if they didn’t know all this before starting the pilot project, what are those expectations that the painting has failed to meet… and that someone will have filled their pockets with the initial contract.

Images | Alexander Nanta Linggi, Bernama (Azlim Mansor)

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