I found this story about an instructor in Essex who has set up a website detailing what he considers to be “incorrect” signage. I’ll give the link to his website, even though it is a thinly disguised advert for his school – some of the key phrases in his header code are:
- Cheap Driving Lessons
- Driving School Southend
- Driving Lessons Brentwood
- Fleet Training Essex
- Advanced Driving
No mention of safety, a “campaign”, or anything even remotely connected with what the article is claiming. Still, it got him some valuable advertising from the Echo, who fell for it hook, line, and sinker.
The Echo story says:
One driving instructor has launched a campaign to shun the signs he believes are incorrect and could be dangerous for motorists…
…He has identified and photographed at least a dozen signs, which are inconsistent with driving manuals, and is now inviting people to add their own to his campaign.
A look at his site throws up this particular “anomaly” (shown left – also mentioned specifically in the Echo report).
According to this instructor, the sign has been erected like that, and he quotes regulations concerning “sign uniformity”. However, note the area I have marked with a red circle – the enlargement is shown on the right.
There is clearly a SQUARE sign on the opposite side of the chicane. I wonder what that might be showing? How about the “priority over oncoming vehicles sign”?
A closer look at the rectangular sign underneath the main in his photo leads to the obvious conclusion that some prat has deliberately turned it around to face the opposite way.
We get that around here. In Arnold, someone has obviously thought it brilliantly funny to change a “30” sign into an “80” – using orange paint (they’re not too bright in Arnold). Last year, someone with similarly brilliant wit thought it clever to change the “20” to “120” on a temporary sign after a country lane had just been dressed with gravel. On the A6097 at Gunthorpe, the local primates have turned the “END” signs around underneath the “Clearway” signs. On the unlisted Stoke Lane (into Stoke Bardolph – aka Stinky Town), a sign warning of a bend has been turned so it is parallel with the road instead of perpendicular to (i.e. it isn’t facing the traffic) – this one could have been due to wind, or a lorry or tractor hitting it. Direction signs are frequently mangled beyond recognition due to an HGVs having had a close encounter with them. Signs are frequently used as a canvas by troglodytes who have somehow managed to acquire sufficient skill to write their nickname or the name of their favourite football team using markers or spray paint. Signs are also an ideal place for those round “94.6” stickers, advertising some amateurish radio station.
As for trees and bushes – at this time of year councils around the country do nothing until well into the Autumn. It is an annual event for road signs to get obscured partially by new growth.
Now, I’m not saying he is wrong on all counts, but I think his rigid interpretation of the Regulations – coupled with the desire to add spin that suggests the signs were erected this way to start with - might be clouding his judgement a little on this. I doubt that anyone will have an accident as a result of a blue “mini-roundabout” sign on a roundabout that isn’t technically a “mini” one. A far bigger problem is people not seeing any signs or realising there is a roundabout there in the first place - whatever signs are erected.
Maintenance of the highways (including signs) has always been a problem. What IS new is someone using the issue as an advertising opportunity.