old UK striped black and white posts

[mark3evo]

still popular in 1950's and 1960's most street funiture used the black and white posts
still popular in India
why did the UK change to bland posts??

[RichardA35]

still popular in 1950's and 1960's most street funiture used the black and white posts
still popular in India
why did the UK change to bland posts??

I'll guess it is something as simple as galvanising or plastic coating being a cheaper way of providing corrosion resistance than painting.

[RichardA626]

I've seen a picture of the 1979 Manchester Woolworths fire which shows some traffic lights with striped posts.

[Johnathan404]

They are still used on new signs in much of urban Ireland...

[Steven]

I've seen a picture of the 1979 Manchester Woolworths fire which shows some traffic lights with striped posts.

Or you could visit Wolverhampton, where the traffic lights at Princes Square have special dispensation to have striped posts at the location of the first automatic traffic lights in Great Britain.

[Focus 2]

During the '70s-80s it become common for the older tin lantern lights to be replaced by Mellors on the original poles. In most cases the black and white poles were painted grey when this had been done.

Sometimes lights had the original heads yet had the poles painted grey as this example near Green Park in London shows, taken in 1984.
This is my own photo taken on a Kodak Instamatic 126 camera.

[Chris5156]

still popular in 1950's and 1960's most street funiture used the black and white posts
still popular in India
why did the UK change to bland posts??

Grey posts were introduced for all road signs in the 1964 TSRGD thanks to the Worboys report, and for traffic signal poles in 1970 (or perhaps 1971) when the Mellor signal heads were introduced. I believe the reasoning was that grey poles looked less obtrusive and cluttered, especially where there were clusters of poles in an urban setting, and improved reflectorisation of sign faces and illumination of signals meant that it was no longer necessary to use the pole as an aid to visibility.

[jedikiah]

Striped posts of course still lurk in rural areas. For example this (google map link), which only was replaced a few years ago when the speed limit was pushed out because of new development.

[nodnirG kraM]

Where does London get its permission for mostly black poles?

[Bryn666]

You've not needed permission for black poles for about 20 years.

[Viator]

Grey posts were introduced for all road signs in the 1964 TSRGD thanks to the Worboys report

I wrote about the incoming changes to the traffic signs system in my one and only contribution to the magazine of the secondary school I attended, in a 1965 article entitled "Signs of the Times" (geddit?), and I remember concluding my tense and gripping piece with a remark about the change from black-and-white to grey poles. I think my nomination for the Pulitzer Prize must have got lost in the post, though, as I'm still waiting...

[Chris Bertram]

You've not needed permission for black poles for about 20 years.

How about the British Racing Green that is a particluar favourite of Solihull?

[mark3evo]

still popular in 1950's and 1960's most street funiture used the black and white posts
still popular in India
why did the UK change to bland posts??

Grey posts were introduced for all road signs in the 1964 TSRGD thanks to the Worboys report, and for traffic signal poles in 1970 (or perhaps 1971) when the Mellor signal heads were introduced. I believe the reasoning was that grey poles looked less obtrusive and cluttered, especially where there were clusters of poles in an urban setting, and improved reflectorisation of sign faces and illumination of signals meant that it was no longer necessary to use the pole as an aid to visibility.

thanks for the update

[Sulzer:1999]

It should also be pointed out that many stripy posts had the rear half painted green, along with the rear of the particular sign itself.
Of the very few surviving pre-Warboys signs in this area, the green is clearly to be seen below latterly applied grey paint.
An interesting example is a steel angle post on the A93 which until around 15 years ago had a post-Warboys 'CULTS' sign fixed to it. A replacement post & sign was erected a few meters away meaning that the first house in Bieldside is now in Cults, causing residents much wailing & gnashing of teeth.
The old steel angle post was not removed, it's top half now enveloped by a hedge, but on the part below, you can see black & white stripes & green showing through the weathered grey paint.
BTW, whilst waiting at the barbers today, I skimmed through the latest 'Top Gear' comic & whilst forgetting what car was being test driven in the United Arab Emirates, I did notice that stripy posts are used there.
Methinks, 'Dear Nicola, as well as Swedish style yellow backed signs for Scotland, can we have stripy poles too please....'
Has anyone noticed that newspaper cartoons which have a drawing of a road sign in them always seem to be drawn with stripy poles?

Murray Duncan

[mark3evo]

Many Belisha Beacons / crossings still are stripey

[Viator]

Many Belisha Beacons / crossings still are stripey

Don't the poles there HAVE to be stripey? (I thought it was part of the regulation markings for zebra crossings.)

[Chris5156]

Many Belisha Beacons / crossings still are stripey

Don't the poles there HAVE to be stripey? (I thought it was part of the regulation markings for zebra crossings.)

Yes, they do. White beacons at pedestrian refuges also have to have two white stripes near the top of the pole - not more, not less.

[Chris Bertram]

Don't the poles there HAVE to be stripey? (I thought it was part of the regulation markings for zebra crossings.)

Yes, they do. White beacons at pedestrian refuges also have to have two white stripes near the top of the pole - not more, not less.

And the poles at these refuges are grey, not black.

[Johnathan404]

How about a black and white lamppost?

[Chris Bertram]

How about a black and white lamppost?light.jpg

Might that at any time in the past have been used as a mounting for a road sign or a traffic light?