Republic of Ireland- stop signs.

[doebag]

We had a week in the RofI and a number of us commented on the seemingly high amount of Stop Signs used at junctions, some with very good fields of vision.

Is there any reason for this ?

[WhiteBlueRed]

By Ireland's standards, STOP signs are used by default unless the visibility is good enough for a Yield sign. And when intersecting with a National road, STOP signs are always used regardless of the visibility.
Whereas in the UK, Give Way signs are used by default, unless the visisibility is poor enough for a STOP sign.
In the UK you can often find Give Way signs even when the visibility is poor. This is a relic from the days when each STOP sign required authorisation from the DfT, so the agencies didn't bother unless they deemed it absolutely necessary.
In Ireland, the same is true, but with STOP signs.
That might explain the overabundance of STOP signs.

[Chris5156]

I think, generally speaking, the UK is unusual when compared to other countries because we use stop signs so rarely.

[wallmeerkat]

Presumably NI would follow closer to RoI advice than GB? Certainly where I am in Co Down there are an abundance of Stop signs

https://www.google.com/maps/@54.4914176 ... ?entry=ttu

https://www.google.com/maps/@54.4897205 ... ?entry=ttu

https://www.google.com/maps/@54.4636446 ... ?entry=ttu

https://www.google.com/maps/@54.4497889 ... ?entry=ttu

https://www.google.com/maps/@54.4622749 ... ?entry=ttu

[MotorwayGuy]

As has been said above, in the UK stop signs used to require specific authorisation and were only used at junctions with visibility concerns that had bad accident records. This used to be a stop sign but it was unusually changed back to a give way when the pavement was built out.

[AndyB]

Presumably NI would follow closer to RoI advice than GB? Certainly where I am in Co Down there are an abundance of Stop signs

https://www.google.com/maps/@54.4914176 ... ?entry=ttu

https://www.google.com/maps/@54.4897205 ... ?entry=ttu

https://www.google.com/maps/@54.4636446 ... ?entry=ttu

https://www.google.com/maps/@54.4497889 ... ?entry=ttu

https://www.google.com/maps/@54.4622749 ... ?entry=ttu

More that the people erecting the signs are also the people authorising them.

[Bryn666]

Presumably NI would follow closer to RoI advice than GB? Certainly where I am in Co Down there are an abundance of Stop signs

https://www.google.com/maps/@54.4914176 ... ?entry=ttu

https://www.google.com/maps/@54.4897205 ... ?entry=ttu

https://www.google.com/maps/@54.4636446 ... ?entry=ttu

https://www.google.com/maps/@54.4497889 ... ?entry=ttu

https://www.google.com/maps/@54.4622749 ... ?entry=ttu

More that the people erecting the signs are also the people authorising them.

NI has its own TSRGD of course.

[Berk]

There are only two places I’m familiar with that use STOP signs.

One is Stamford, the other is the Isle of Man.

Fairly easy to see why. But not the Lakes, for some reason.

[AndyB]

NI has its own TSRGD of course.

Not quite. We don't have any General Directions, just a policy to follow TSM.

[wallmeerkat]

the Isle of Man.

The Stop line without any dashed line for entry into the junction road look very Irish road marking style

[AndyB]

NI is probably nearer GB in its Stop sign practice because it follows TSM. As in GB, new junctions must be designed to not need Stop signs, but until the recent relaxation of the need for site-specific authorisation in GB, any road safety audit in NI recommending the provision of Stop signs could be implemented more easily because the auditor and implementer both work for DfI Roads.

[Truvelo]

One thing no one has yet mentioned in this thread is ROI uses the correct font on stop signs. Stop signs only look 'right' with the taller US font and ROI signs mimic this well. Transport font used in the UK doesn't look right in my opinion.

[AndyB]

I'm the opposite - I think Transport is altogether a more comfortable font.

Some signs in Ireland used a very thin spidery font for Stop signs.

[c2R]

NI is probably nearer GB in its Stop sign practice because it follows TSM. As in GB, new junctions must be designed to not need Stop signs, but until the recent relaxation of the need for site-specific authorisation in GB, any road safety audit in NI recommending the provision of Stop signs could be implemented more easily because the auditor and implementer both work for DfI Roads.

I think also there has been less money spent in rural areas on actually improving junctions with poor visibility compared to England, because of the low traffic volumes and population density.

[EthanL13]

One thing no one has yet mentioned in this thread is ROI uses the correct font on stop signs. Stop signs only look 'right' with the taller US font and ROI signs mimic this well. Transport font used in the UK doesn't look right in my opinion.

The font used is Transport Heavy, but condensed. Before Arial bold was used. There were also some signs using the US font. Here you can see all 3 (and also see that the two on the left replaced yield signs).

[Nathan_A_RF]

Stamford

Why does that need a stop sign?

[Berk]

Stamford

Why does that need a stop sign?

Most of the signs are in places where the nearside view is obscured, in this case by the house.

Traffic can pull out turning right, from the left-hand road, out of view. Don’t forget you’re seeing that view from the right/offside.

The first link I posted is the same (school this time).

It’s the same story in the Isle of Man too.

[Nathan_A_RF]

But that's a stop sign on the main road, that doesn't make sense. If there were sightline issues, then the through road should be changed.

[RJDG14]

Presumably NI would follow closer to RoI advice than GB? Certainly where I am in Co Down there are an abundance of Stop signs

https://www.google.com/maps/@54.4914176 ... ?entry=ttu

https://www.google.com/maps/@54.4897205 ... ?entry=ttu

https://www.google.com/maps/@54.4636446 ... ?entry=ttu

https://www.google.com/maps/@54.4497889 ... ?entry=ttu

https://www.google.com/maps/@54.4622749 ... ?entry=ttu

In England stop signs seem pretty rare while in Ireland they seem to be used at nearly all minor junctions with major roads and about half of junctions on smaller roads. In the case of Northern Ireland Give Way still seems to be the default but I do see a greater number of stop signs than what I see in Great Britain.

I believe the policy on stop or yield/give way signs varies by country - I believe yield/give way is the default in some Northern and Eastern European countries, as well as Australia and New Zealand, while stop signs are more common in countries such as France, Italy, the US and Canada.

[RJDG14]

There are only two places I’m familiar with that use STOP signs.

One is Stamford, the other is the Isle of Man.

Fairly easy to see why. But not the Lakes, for some reason.

In the case of the Isle Of Man I believe they have their own regulations and stop signs seem to generally be used in much the same way as the ROI. In the case of those two Stamford junctions they are the kind of junction that you might see stop signs at in Northern Ireland, where they are less common than in the ROI but more common than in most of England.

Another peculiar thing related to signage that I've noticed in Northern Ireland would be how almost all sliproads onto dual carriageways and motorways seem to have a "no right turn" sign on the sliproad and a "no left turn" sign on the main carriageway. This seems to still be the case on newly opened sliproads in Northern Ireland, yet I can only think of a few sliproads with such signage in Great Britain (I'm pretty sure the A34 has a handful). I'd imagine Northern Ireland must have a different signage policy on this than what the rest of the UK has. The ROI seems to also insist on no-turn signs on sliproads but unlike Northern Ireland is a different country to Great Britain.