Should we use a single colour for all directional signage in the UK?

[exiled]

Actually for most drivers it does matter. And they notice. The hierarchy of colours does work.

Evidence?

Basically the Guildford experiments and that in Europe only one country has single colour directional signs.

[KeithW]

At the risk of dragging us off topic - for me the argument about motorways and motorway-like A-roads has always been the inconsistency in who we allow on them. Motorways are statistically the safest type of road, and they are the safest because they are designed solely for fast motor traffic and all other road users are banned. That being the case, why on earth do we also persist in building other roads that are designed solely for fast motor traffic and then happily allow bicycles, tractors and ramblers on them? There is either a major safety benefit in banning non-motorway classes of traffic or there isn't, and we ought to be consistent in our approach to this type of road.

Many of the existing HQDC roads are routes that have been in existence for a very long time and have been upgraded on line. Extinguishing the rights of non motorised users would require provision of adequate Local Access Roads for those classes and this could become a very expensive exercise.

Where I think a trick was missed was with new roads such as the new build section of the A14 from Kettering to Catthorpe, the A174 Cleveland Parkway which bypassed the old A174 which ran along Ladgate Lane and through Eston and sections of the A19 such as that from Crathorne to Wolviston. Restricting traffic classes does NOT require that it be a special road. TRO's can be applied to the same purpose as they were in fact on the Tees Viaduct section of the A19. ISTR that some sections of the A1 through Yorkshire also had such restrictions prior to being rebuilt as the A1(M).

[orudge]

Indeed maps often disagree with how some roads should be presented. An example being the A93 which was firstly shown in red on OS maps, then more recently it was shown in green for a few years before reverting back to red. This is despite the fact that the A93 has never been a trunk road and on the ground all signs are white as you would expect for a "red" road.

Replying to an old post here, but this is muddied a bit by the fact that Perth and Kinross still have a reasonable number of green A93 signs (as the road was primary before 1996 or so), although all new/replacement signs should be white. Aberdeenshire and Aberdeen City have replaced all theirs, but P&K don't seem to be in a hurry to do so!

[Micro The Maniac]

To take a randomly selected example, the white panel is much more prominent than the green - yet it's the minor road at the turn and the one which fewer people will be taking. The design draws your eye to the less important road first, and the more important one after.

But as an example, it shows a bigger problem with our road network... the semi-random renumbering, leaving that orphaned bit of the A423