Signage Overload

IAM urge drivers to read the road as well as signs

By PH Staff / Monday, 12 June 2006 / Loading comments

The Institute of Advanced Motorists is suggesting today that we're suffering from information overload when it comes to road signage and that we're missing the information on the road in front of us.

The IAM warns that drivers tend to ignore all but the most basic of road signs. A red light will still get most drivers to stop, most of the time, whilst a junction marking stating "STOP" in large capital letters is often ignored; at best it will be treated as a "give way" and then only by the locals who should know the dangers well.

There are so many instructions, official and unofficial, so many direction signs and road signs competing for attention that drivers already have their heads full of information coming at them from eye level. That's resulting in many drivers being oblivious to the markings on the road beneath them.

They go on to urge drivers to take heed of the markings on the road both official (white lines, cross hatching etc) and tips left by other road users (skid marks, mud from tractors etc).