Safe Speed Forums

I think we need some new signs for some of the newer hazards we have these days, that some designs could do with changing to make them clearer and perhaps some signs out there are outdated and should no longer be used or taught. Make your suggestions here

This isn't about signage at a specific location, it's about the signs available to the traffic engineers in the first place.

New sign: Grass Cutting

More and more people are getting hayfever these days, even people who had no problem with it a few years ago and those who have it are suffering a lot more than they did, yet the council still regularly cone off one lane of a dual carriageway and set at the verges with high powered lawnmowers that spray the air with decimated plant matter.
If I spot this coming in advance I can take measures, close all windows, switch fans off, close air vents, and I get through ok, however they are always signposted as roadworks, so usually it's a last minute job of doing that, while holding your breath and squinting eyes to reduce the amount of plant metter coming in, not the sort of thing you want to be doing at 70mph especially if you don't have electric windows, plus I'll still get hit by some of it and my driving will be impaired for the next 3 or 4 hours.
A simple sign to be used instead of the roadworks sign will cure this problem easilly.

Redesign this sign please: <unknown>

I have no idea what this sign means, it's probably the end (or start) of a no HGVs area, the problem is that on the few of these I see around, the grey has faded, the white has gone dull and until you're right on top of it the stripes look like a single diagonal line.
So that's a single diagonal line on a white background, oh great this village is national speed limit, lets speed up.. crap, speed bump, deploy the anchors!

Lastly, I'm putting this one in because I'm sure someone else will if I dont


Lets hear your suggestions. You don't have to be a great artist (from the above it's clear that I'm not) an MS Paint job should suffice.

Sorry Lum, your grass cutting sign looks like someone hoovering a giant toothbrush.

Sorry Lum, your grass cutting sign looks like someone hoovering a giant toothbrush.

Lum - the 2nd one is 'end of restriction' ie end of no lorry or weight limit zone.

Fergl100 - Why would you hoover a giant toothbrush?

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Science won over religion when they started installing lightning rods on churches.

A perfect complement to the man having trouble with umbrella sign that it will be replacing then?

Poorly executed, but hopefully you get the idea. Sorry for the quality, couldn't find any decent source images.

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-mike[F]
Caught in the rush of the crowd, lost in a wall of sound..

if this applied to you then am I correct in assuming that you'd never see the sign? If so, what's its point?

Drivers of mechanically propelled vehicles MUST select a safe speed according to the conditions.

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

Where would you get a gaint toothbrush from any way?

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Oct 11 Birmingham Half Marathon. I am running for the British Heart Foundation.
http://www.justgiving.com/Rob-Taylor

Danger - dodgy arguments can get you into deep water

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Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler - Einstein

Tch, Paul, I think you're just being too lazy to fire up your graphics editor here! Also, would this exempt rocket-fueled cars from being required to select a safe speed?

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-mike[F]
Caught in the rush of the crowd, lost in a wall of sound..

That is what I thought, and was the main reason for me being unsure about it's meaning "No, it can't mean that, the HGVs would never see it"

Probably explains why I've only every seen two of them on my travels though.

It's a shame you can't have colour signs, because a red triangle with a burberry car in it could be used similar to children crossing or elderly people signs ie. "danger: road users ahead are likely to do something stupid". I'm too lazy to fire up my graphics editor now, so here is a different sign I made for another site last year:

Red diagonal stripe across "no cycling" and "no motor vehicles" signs. You don't get no smoking signs without a diagonal line crossing the cigarette. This would make the meaning of these signs much clearer.

"HGV overtaking prohibited" signs, like in Europe.

At the risk of being accused of us from Southampton sticking together, I agree wholeheartedly about the diagonal prohibition bar which should be on "No xxxx" type signs. I had to look up the cycling one in the Highway Code to make sure it didn't mean "Cycles Only".

You probably realise from this that I don't ride a bike.

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Malcolm W.
The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not represent the views of Safespeed.

You find them at the end of 'no HGVs except for access' zones...

sotonsteve - definately agree with the diagonal red lines through prohibitive signs - I had the same confusion as Malcolmw on the 'no cycles' one.

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Science won over religion when they started installing lightning rods on churches.

[quote="Sixy_the_red"]
You find them at the end of 'no HGVs except for access' zones...

Fair enough. They're still a crap design though.

For a good example, drive from Beverly in Humberside up the B-wotsit to North Cave. It's a 30 limit, then there's one of these at the traffic lights just before the start of some village who's name I've forgotten. Unless you actually stop at the lights, you have no chance of seeing the grey truck, and the sign is that manky that the 5 lines blend into one.

If you're approaching at 30, you're just going to think it's an NSL sign. Just what we need at the start of a village.

GatsoBait- was that sign from the Lake District - "DANGER SUBMERGED SPEED CAMERAS"

A sign in a white box with black writing on every set of traffic lights stating "Cyclists must obey traffic lights too"

A Triangular warning sign near pubs for "Drunks", more appropriate with the up and coming 24 hour licence laws.

More signs that say "keep left unless overtaking"

A Triangular warning sign warning of potholes that the council can't be bothered to repair

A warning sign for lorry tyre tracks which may cause aquaplaning in the rain because the highways agency can't be bothered to repair the road.

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www.clubrwd.com - For all things rear wheel drive

I made this one a while back:



And to be placed by hidden speed cameras:



But seriously, I can't think of new any signs that I would find useful. In fact less signs would mean I could pay more attention to other things.

More signs for the hospital (A&E) seem to have popped up around here which is a good thing.

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Andrew.

But they wont be bothered to put up the sign either! Maybe the AA could do this?