Monday 12th June 2006

Signage Overload

IAM urge drivers to read the road as well as signs

---

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).

[Peter Ward]

Defintely true that there are too many roadsigns. It's therefore easy to be concentrating on the important ones plus the road itself and to miss the "unimportant" speed limit changes.

[Peter Ward]

Some good examples there, Parrot of Doom. What I find so "interesting" is how often the huge "safety camera" warning signs actually obscure the normal road signs. Coming south to the Longbridge roundabout on the A46 (M40 J15) is a classic example of where the multiple camera warning signs both outnumber and obscure the signs you actually need to circumnavigate the roundabout successfully.

[Peter Ward]

10 Pence Short said:

I particularly dislike the large areas of red anti-skid that get put down seemingly every time a council wagon stops.

A multicoloured surface only complicates what is often an overcrowded scene in the first place, and considering it's usually on patches of road supposed to separate the traffic, i.e. hatched central markings, the anti skid properties are superfluous, anyway.

Yes, it looks horrible. I used to hate the green paint that the French (used to?) put down the middle of urban roads to simulate grass. Having red in the same place is much worse!

And then there's the raised yellow rumble strips, that inexplicably go ALL THE WAY across the road rather than just on the side that (some road engineer thinks) needs it.

Oh the pain of it all. One joy of old films now is seeing the simplicity of the road layouts and the lack of both signage and paint. I guess we'll never get there again, but it's nice to dream sometimes....