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Strange and unusual
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Britain being "overrun" by street signs
A new road sign (2L) stands amongst other traffic signs on Farringdon Road, London, January 24 2003.
Credit: Reuters/Toby Melville
LONDON |
LONDON (Reuters) - The British government has declared war on the profusion of unnecessary road traffic signs, railings and advertising boards, saying they blight towns' English character.
Communities Secretary Eric Pickles and Transport Secretary Philip Hammond has written to local council leaders in England, calling on them to cut the number of unsightly signs and other "street clutter."
Even traffic lights are in the firing line.
Ministers want the public to inform local authorities of particularly bad examples of excess signage, to clean up the national landscape.
"Our streets are losing their English character," Pickles said. "We are being overrun by scruffy signs, bossy bollards, patchwork paving and railed-off roads -- wasting taxpayers' money that could be better spent on fixing potholes or keeping council (local) tax down."
The government says that in some cases traffic signs are installed by councils in the mistaken belief they are legally required, when they are not.
Hammond said the abundance of so-called street furniture often makes towns resemble "scrapyards," confusing motorists and obstructing pedestrians.
For signs to be most effective, ministers say, they should be kept to a minimum.
When busy Kensington High Street in central London was stripped of excess road furniture, for example, it helped reduce accidents by 47 percent.
The Department for Transport is reviewing traffic signs policy and new advice on how to reduce clutter will be published later this year.
(Reporting by Stefano Ambrogi; Editing by Steve Addison)
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When I next met the City Manager, an old friend, I asked him how much a street sign cost. He said around $200 installed for the small signs, and up to $2000 for large ones.
Then I asked him how many signs we had in the 1 mile new stretch. He choked on his margarita when I said I’d counted 235 signs. He figured the whole set, not including new traffic lights, cost over $100,000.
It looks like Britain exceeds that by a mile, but we ARE trying to close the gap here!
Incidentally, we concluded that trying to read all the signs made for reduced safety!
No signs anywhere. No Stop signs, no Street signs, no Highway signs, not even traffic lights! Its a total disaster trying to navigate your way in the streets, trying to find an address or a highway or figure out how to get anywhere!
And as a result, traffic is the worst I have ever seen anywhere in the world (and I’ve been around!)
When you park your car somewhere, there is no sign to tell you if its allowed or not. You take the risk and hope you don’t get a ticket. Same thing with “one way” streets, no signs, no lanes, nothing. You either know from experience or you don’t, and in the end you still get a ticket or even jailtime for not knowing this.
When you see the entrance to the highway, forget about trying to figure out where its going, there’s no sign to tell you what this is! Your best bet is to just get on the entrance and hope for the best!
So believe me, signs are a blessing!
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