Botched Roadsigns

[Bryn666]

Why do some "designers" insist on creating this nonsense:

https://www.google.com/maps/@53.4702907 ... 312!8i6656

...he asked rhetorically.

That would be C*pita and their partners, an organisation known for ignoring advice from people who know what they're talking about, like when their director in Salford pressed ahead with this despite me suggesting it might be a bad idea:

http://salfordonline.com/27489-signs-ca ... trial.html

[Andy33gmail]

Saw two “brown signs” on the M74 (ish) that ought to have been blue...

The turn-off at Lockerbie, whole junction sign. Then a sign nearly saying (only) M74 - which I suspect is the transition from M6-M74, but may have been a repeater

I wonder if the blue paint somehow “fell off”, in the dark rust might look the same as brown paint, but I don’t understand why the letters would still be readable. Ditto if it was dirty.

Edit:

And forgot to say, more or less a different message on every sign once I got to Scotland

“Fasten seatbelts front and back” - I’m not sure I could fasten the back ones without losing control

“Take care while towing” - I have to take care, and I have to find something to tow? Surely they mean “if”/“when”

[Rambo]

Why do some "designers" insist on creating this nonsense:

https://www.google.com/maps/@53.4702907 ... 312!8i6656

...he asked rhetorically.

Excuse my ignorance but are we talking about the M60 bit at the top? or the whole sign being a bit bungled in general..

[Johnathan404]

That well-known Department of Transport Interchange.

---

The Blackwater Junction sign is a beauty too, a great example of getting all the key parts right but putting them together badly. It's even worse that this is the only ADS for this exit - and none of those places even get a look in on the RCSs.

[Conekicker]

Why do some "designers" insist on creating this nonsense:

https://www.google.com/maps/@53.4702907 ... 312!8i6656

...he asked rhetorically.

Excuse my ignorance but are we talking about the M60 bit at the top? or the whole sign being a bit bungled in general..

The most obvious error is the double-headed arrow. Some of the line spacings look a bit off as well. but mostly the arrow. No design programme includes it as a standard, so someone must have made a conscious effort to include it. The muppet.

[Rambo]

Why do some "designers" insist on creating this nonsense:

https://www.google.com/maps/@53.4702907 ... 312!8i6656

...he asked rhetorically.

Excuse my ignorance but are we talking about the M60 bit at the top? or the whole sign being a bit bungled in general..

The most obvious error is the double-headed arrow. Some of the line spacings look a bit off as well. but mostly the arrow. No design programme includes it as a standard, so someone must have made a conscious effort to include it. The muppet.

Yeah it's a bit of a new one on me. It's like they were trying to replicate the road layout / markings.

[Johnathan404]

Nice big directions to M27(E)... as you exit M27(E).

Now you could argue this is useful information for the small number of people who take the wrong exit. You'd be right. But I suspect the person responsible wasn't doing it to be helpful; they were doing it because they didn't stop and ask themselves whether any other motorway exit helps you get back onto the motorway (yes there are some, but they're wrong too!). In doing so they've made finding the M271 much harder... they could have just written "M271(N)&(S)".

Also, look at the size of the car to get an idea how big these signs are.

Next. It's clear somebody didn't think about the consequences of placing this absolutely massive sign in that location (it's taller than a lorry!). Therefore a cheap and ugly botch has been applied. This is fair enough. But why can't "A3057" be in brackets? Are they trying to start an A3057(M) conspiracy?!

The same mistake has been made here, which appears to be due to them trying to correct a much older botch.

At the top of the M271 we have this. The issue of the information overload has been raised before. The Nursling plate is new and should be in blue. And once again, why are the warning signs so big?!

[Bfivethousand]

Also, look at the size of the car to get an idea how big these signs are.

The sign sizes are probably down to the designer faithfully / blindly following 'x'-height design advice as given in Appendix E of TSM Chapter 7, i.e. designed at 300mm x-height for a 70mph 85th %ile approach speed.

I recall a meeting down at the DfT in Dorking many years ago in which I was pretty much ordered to install a map-type advance direction sign on an A38 exit slip road to the same x-height design criteria.

It would've been 11 metres wide...

Agree entirely about the inclusion of unnecessary information

[Bryn666]

That well-known Department of Transport Interchange.

---

The Blackwater Junction sign is a beauty too, a great example of getting all the key parts right but putting them together badly. It's even worse that this is the only ADS for this exit - and none of those places even get a look in on the RCSs.

What the holy hell is that.

[Bryn666]

Also, look at the size of the car to get an idea how big these signs are.

The sign sizes are probably down to the designer faithfully / blindly following 'x'-height design advice as given in Appendix E of TSM Chapter 7, i.e. designed at 300mm x-height for a 70mph 85th %ile approach speed.

I recall a meeting down at the DfT in Dorking many years ago in which I was pretty much ordered to install a map-type advance direction sign on an A38 exit slip road to the same x-height design criteria.

It would've been 11 metres wide...

Agree entirely about the inclusion of unnecessary information

The insistence that all motorway signs use 300mm x-heights by HE and their useless minions in Area 10 leads to further nonsense like this:

https://goo.gl/maps/262Fkcoko8qxK6rLA

[Bryn666]

Or how about giant start of motorway signs...

https://goo.gl/maps/wrYHvK2wHo5AA9J68

[Conekicker]

Or how about giant start of motorway signs...

https://goo.gl/maps/wrYHvK2wHo5AA9J68

Makes up for the undersized chopsticks on the DS?

[Bryn666]

Now, see, I find the chopsticks are not remotely in proportion with the rest of a direction sign - I've always felt it would look more in place at 12 or 14 sw rather than 16.

[Conekicker]

At 16 the symbol stands out more - probably a deliberate decision so as not to give the dozy any excuse that they didn't realise they were entering a motorway?

[Bryn666]

At 16 the symbol stands out more - probably a deliberate decision so as not to give the dozy any excuse that they didn't realise they were entering a motorway?

I think giving the dozy an excuse is the main problem, mesen...

[Rambo]

At 16 the symbol stands out more - probably a deliberate decision so as not to give the dozy any excuse that they didn't realise they were entering a motorway?

You'd think the blue signs would be a clue. But you have to cater for everybody these days !

[Ruperts Trooper]

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.10862 ... 312!8i6656

I went past this today.
Only, it wasn't that.

It was a keep right today.

I decided to be a rebel and passed the keep right on the left hand side.

Is that the turn for Dunsfold Airfield, where Top Gear was filmed?

[Johnathan404]

Eastleigh Borough still trigging my personal bugbear by still insisting on installing totally inappropriate flag signs.

[Andy33gmail]

At 16 the symbol stands out more - probably a deliberate decision so as not to give the dozy any excuse that they didn't realise they were entering a motorway?

You'd think the blue signs would be a clue. But you have to cater for everybody these days !

Yeah but 801

[Patrick Harper]

Pedal cycles should be barred from the Dartford Crossing + approaches, according to the Dartford-Thurrock Crossing Act of 1988. I don't suppose anyone fancies trying to use it this way. However, as far as I can determine from GSV coverage of the area (dated late '18-19), the prohibition is unenforceable.

There are no appropriate signs at or in advance of the northbound entry sliproads at J1b and J2, or on the northbound carriageway approaching J1a. The first Diagram 951 sign appears at the mouth of the tunnel bores, long after the last opportunity to avoid the tunnel. Most riders would probably manage to maintain the minimum speed limit as well.

Southbound isn't much better either; the A13 on both sides of the M25 is only barred courtesy of a temporary TRO that lasts until the widening works there are complete (probably also unenforceable as an extension of the Dartford Crossing failure), and J31's solution is too small and too far away from the diverge. No advance warning signs here either.