Road signs in Ireland

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Chris Bertram
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Re: Road signs in Ireland

Post by Chris Bertram »

They weren't big on route numbers then, were they? And it looks like the old Gaelic font must have been near enough unreadable.
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Re: Road signs in Ireland

Post by bothar »

Chris Bertram wrote:They weren't big on route numbers then, were they?
Oddly the fingerpoint signs at the junction had the route number, these were widely used, the ADS only on main roads.
All in all that iteration of direction signage wasn't as well thought out as the warning signs.

Image

And it looks like the old Gaelic font must have been near enough unreadable.
Possibly it hadn't undergone the same evolution from books to signage as roman. However, on the 1926 warning signs I find it as legible as the All CAPS sans serif English text.

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Re: Road signs in Ireland

Post by bothar »

Old no parking sign
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Re: Road signs in Ireland

Post by Berk »

What do the words on the sign say??
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Re: Road signs in Ireland

Post by bothar »

Berk wrote:What do the words on the sign say??
The photo isn't clear. I expect the top half is ná páirceáil (no parking) and the bottom some sort of detail on that, but I cannot make it out.
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Re: Road signs in Ireland

Post by Bryn666 »

It's a hinged sign so probably ON THIS SIDE TODAY.
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Re: Road signs in Ireland

Post by Owain »

bothar wrote:Old no parking sign
I'd like to know what all the people are looking at.
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Re: Road signs in Ireland

Post by Big L »

Owain wrote:
bothar wrote:Old no parking sign
I'd like to know what all the people are looking at.
Something fancy I imagine.
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Re: Road signs in Ireland

Post by bothar »

This shop was very well known. It was run by a larger than life character from Scotland, who had a greater gift of the gab than the Irish, and who was never surpassed in self promotion.

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Re: Road signs in Ireland

Post by Viator »

Bryn666 wrote:It's a hinged sign so probably ON THIS SIDE TODAY.
I think you're right. Such hinged signs, regulating unilateral -- alternating from day to day, and usually time-restricted -- parking were once common in GB too. The Irish wording is therefore probably ar (an) taobh seo inniu.
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Re: Road signs in Ireland

Post by bothar »

Viator wrote:
Bryn666 wrote:It's a hinged sign so probably ON THIS SIDE TODAY.
I think you're right. Such hinged signs, regulating unilateral -- alternating from day to day, and usually time-restricted -- parking were once common in GB too. The Irish wording is therefore probably ar (an) taobh seo inniu.
This seems likely, you can see the T in the second word.

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Re: Road signs in Ireland

Post by Viator »

bothar wrote:
Chris Bertram wrote:And it looks like the old Gaelic font must have been near enough unreadable.
[...] on the 1926 warning signs I find it as legible as the All CAPS sans serif English text.
Image
I agree. ALL CAPS always equals lower legibility in my view (my main grouse against French directional signage which, in other respects, I find excellent).

Another thing is that (while I wholeheartedly prefer symbols alone) the Irish-language texts in these examples do frequently make more sense than those in English: e.g. bóthar trasna ("road across") vs junction end (eh? what?); iol-bhóithre ("multi-roads") vs junction complex.
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Re: Road signs in Ireland

Post by bothar »

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Re: Road signs in Ireland

Post by Berk »

Was that shot taken looking backwards??
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Re: Road signs in Ireland

Post by bothar »

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Re: Road signs in Ireland

Post by Owain »

Junction Complex.png
Junction Complex.png (5.31 KiB) Viewed 3483 times

This would be a better warning sign than anything we have in the UK for this junction, which routinely causes near-gridlock and near-misses.

Rather than JUNCTION COMPLEX, the caption should be changed to COMPLEX JUNCTION, perhaps with an exclamation mark.
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Re: Road signs in Ireland

Post by bothar »

Nice crossroads sign. I think this possibly on N2 north of Ashbourne, but it is a zoom lense of some sort.

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Re: Road signs in Ireland

Post by odlum »

...
Last edited by odlum on Sat Sep 29, 2018 21:50, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Road signs in Ireland

Post by odlum »

Image
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Re: Road signs in Ireland

Post by bothar »

Another oldie, with a parking sign and directional signs at this junction
Dublin_St_1950b.jpg
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