Botched Roadsigns

[Robert Kilcoyne]

I have noticed this near particularly large cities, such as Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester. On some quite important roads there into these places there is sometimes a surprising absence of any "Welcome to..." sign, and you end up with "City Centre" appearing instead.

"City Centre" should only be allowed on signposts once you are within the boundary of that city; it is somewhat tricky with Salford as Salford is itself a city but part of its eastern border (e.g. A6) is with Manchester city centre.

[mnb20]

I quite like the signs on the A31 that say "Central Farnham", and I don't know why there aren't a lot more similar.

[Owain]

There aren't many features of Italian road signs that I would suggest are better than those in the UK, but one worth adopting is the 'Centre' symbol.

It doesn't take long to get used to following this sign automatically, when you arrive somewhere new and want to find the centre. Usually it appears with the word 'Centro', but there are occasions when the easily recognisable 'target' symbol appears on its own.

centro.JPG (10.02 KiB) Viewed 1573 times

[Ambosc79]

I have noticed this near particularly large cities, such as Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester. On some quite important roads there into these places there is sometimes a surprising absence of any "Welcome to..." sign, and you end up with "City Centre" appearing instead.

"City Centre" should only be allowed on signposts once you are within the boundary of that city; it is somewhat tricky with Salford as Salford is itself a city but part of its eastern border (e.g. A6) is with Manchester city centre.

I don't think it ever says "City Centre" in London (at least I've never seen it): it's either "Central London" for the central area in general or "City" for the actual City of London. More than one "city" again. Which makes the failure to notice there are 3 plausible candidate "city centres" on those A5 signs all the more striking.

[ais523]

There are two cities in central London, the City of London and Westminster. Given how close those are to each other, "City centre" would be ambiguous in most places in London.

(There's also the problem that not many people are aware of the exact definitions of what's a city and what isn't…)

[sydneynick]

There aren't many features of Italian road signs that I would suggest are better than those in the UK, but one worth adopting is the 'Centre' symbol.

It doesn't take long to get used to following this sign automatically, when you arrive somewhere new and want to find the centre. Usually it appears with the word 'Centro', but there are occasions when the easily recognisable 'target' symbol appears on its own.

But don't follow it too far, as the centre is all too often a ZTL.

[Owain]

There are two cities in central London, the City of London and Westminster. Given how close those are to each other, "City centre" would be ambiguous in most places in London.

(There's also the problem that not many people are aware of the exact definitions of what's a city and what isn't…)

And Southwark?

[KeithW]

There are two cities in central London, the City of London and Westminster. Given how close those are to each other, "City centre" would be ambiguous in most places in London.

(There's also the problem that not many people are aware of the exact definitions of what's a city and what isn't…)

And Southwark?

Southwark is not a city, historically Southwark was where all the fun stuff banned in the City of London was based. Bear baiting, brothels, public bath houses and theatres. It was a bit odd really as the controlling authority was actually the Bishopric of Winchester. The Bishop however was usually a person appointed by the King and this post was a nice little earner as he levied license fees on the less salubrious establishments. It was known colloquially as the 'Liberty of the Clink' . The Clink of course was one of the famous prisons of London and was also under the control of the Bishop. As such it was a gold mine as prisoners had to pay for their accommodation, food and drink if they wanted more than stale bread and foul water and a place on the floor of a crowded cell.

[Johnathan404]

A question of colour

[Stevie D]

[gallery]A63-services-slow.jpg[/gallery]
I'm not sure if this is saying that the maximum speed allowed is "slow", or if that slowing down is prohibited...

[Chris Bertram]

[gallery]A63-services-slow.jpg[/gallery]
I'm not sure if this is saying that the maximum speed allowed is "slow", or if that slowing down is prohibited...

If that's from a MOTO service area, their signage is famous/notorious for being utterly useless.

[Chris Bertram]

A question of colour

Well, firstly, there's the question of whether A418 is primary or not. After that, everything else is moot.

[Osthagen]

This sign might not seem to have much wrong with it at first. However, it brackets (A65) where (M65) is clearly intended; Burnley, despite what the sign suggests, cannot be reached from the A65, which is 5 miles to the east of this sign.

a65m65hickup.png (23.31 KiB) Viewed 1208 times

[Bryn666]

It could be a typo for A56, either way it's still wrong.

[Big L]

We've got this sign but the rocks are on the other side of the road. What can we do?

[vlad]

We've got this sign but the rocks are on the other side of the road. What can we do?

Isn't that the warning sign "no gravity for [distance]"?

[Big L]

Lovely brackets.

[Johnathan404]

Lovely brackets.

How very Irish!

[Owain]

Whether the A647 is primary or not at this point (I'm not sure), the number should not be on a panel that's a different colour from the rest of the sign, because the road is the A647.

[Owain]

Lovely brackets.

How very Irish!

In those parts, they even like bracketing 'foreign' road numbers.