Ray Massey's column

	Roundabout clutter is being encouraged by cash-strapped councils who are desperate to raise extra revenue by way of sponsorship

You are driving up to a roundabout when you spot what looks like a giant white polar bear emerging from a spa hot tub. As you pass around the surreal traffic circle, you realise it IS a giant white polar bear in model form, emerging from a hot tub at a roundabout on Eastbourne’s Birch Grove in Sussex, which attracts the attention of 40,000 motorists a day

At this moment, are your eyes: a) on the road and other vehicles with whom you might collide; b) on the giant polar bear; c) looking heaven-wards in astonishment? Whatever your reaction, you have just encountered a growing phenomenon which is driving motorists, motoring groups and environmental campaigners to distraction – the rise, and rise, of roadside ‘clutter’ which is a visual eyesore and danger to safety.

At its most extreme level, the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE) and the RAC Foundation last autumn exposed 48 traffic signs peppering a one-mile stretch of road in an area of outstanding natural beauty. These are part of an amazing 335 signs lining a seven-mile stretch of the B3006 in Hampshire’s South Downs.

Another of the most notorious spots has been on a busy junction of the A3 in New Malden, south-west London. There, drivers have had to contend with 19 different road signs giving 10 different instructions. Then there is the visual clutter from so-called ‘traffic calming’ schemes – from built-out pinch-points to chicanes

Now the CPRE is warning of a new phenomenon – roundabout clutter – which is being encouraged by cash-strapped councils desperate to raise extra revenue. But have they considered the safety implications? Evidence from studies in Holland suggests removing all white lines and clutter from roads makes them safer. That’s because drivers aren’t guided where to drive, and so take more care

Until recently, there were only isolated instances of roundabout clutter. But now, it’s taking on an industrial scale, netting millions of pounds in sponsorship. Here’s how it works. Marketing company approaches council. In return for maintaining the roundabout free of charge, it asks the council for the right to put ‘tasteful’ advertising displays on the island. The marketing firm then approaches companies who want to advertise, and charges them about £3,000 a year for their display. Everybody’s happy.

But campaigners say it is posing a danger to drivers. They say the ads are distracting, while being placed at junctions compounds the problem

The sponsored polar bear island in Eastbourne advertises a hot tub spa company – and was even opened by the town’s mayor. A marketing firm’s website boasts of more roundabout deals done with councils across Britain: a giant exercising letter ‘B’ proclaims to drivers that this island is sponsored by Bannatyne’s Health club, the chain owned by ‘Dragon’s Den’ star Duncan Bannatyne. A fighter plane blasting into the sky dominates a roundabout sponsored by a plumbing firm

Others are taken by the likes of Vodafone, Sony, Waitrose, Panasonic, Fosters and Berkeley Homes

Elsewhere, South Oxfordshire Council has concluded a deal with a marketing company which now maintains 38 roundabouts in return for keeping the estimated £100,000 sponsorship income

Should we be appalled, or go with the flow? Just think of it. Speed cameras sponsored by Kodak or SnappySnaps. Traffic lights backed by Citroen highlighting its environmental stop-go technology. Parking bays advertising Rentokil pest control. Speed limit signs sponsored by Ferrari and Porsche. Or ‘Give Way’ signs supported by BMW... Perhaps not!