Ridiculous road signage

I remember on July 7th the other year, going towards London on the M11

'LONDON CLOSED'

Spooky....

Problem these days is they sign where they want you to go, not actually the quickest or most direct route. I live near Stansted Airport, and there are plenty of signs which would send you the wrong way to bypass certain towns/villages.

It would be nice to have signs indicating North occaisionally, 'cos if the sun isn't shining it can be difficult to navigate as it's not always obvious which direction you are travelling in.

Hmmm that probably sounds bonkers to some people...but in London it can relly help to know which direction you are heading.

Small cost dash board compass will always indicate magnetic north...............

MR. GUY

Good thinking...I shall ask Santa to bring one...cheers

Provided it doesnt have interference from steel in the automobile.

Or from power lines.

.....if properly compensated for when lights are on or off etc etc etc....one or the other usually......

Even adjusting to show north reasonably accurately is a big business.....

I have "swung" compasses in the Royal Navy, it takes quite a time!

Fitting a compass on some cars is not quite as simple as you think to find a place with no electrical fields as I found out on several cars years ago.

A mobile/portable GPS unit does it MUCH better today.....

The time saved, the petrol saved, the anger saved, the marriages saved, the country saved etc etc etc.

After living in Texas, Florida and Arizona for 30 years I was amazed by the effects of the N Lats when I moved to Oregon. I have always been so keen as to compass direction (not grocery store or cousin Ed directions, as my better half will swear to).

But no longer having such a good solar compass, combined with the varying elevations. Whew- I was burnin up the fuel and perfecting the U-turn.

In US, Odd numbered Federal (U.S./defense and Interstate) highways move traffic north and south. Even...east and west. With U.S. highways, the larger the rte number the further west, or south you are in the country. With Interstate...just the opposite. Three digit Interstates...you're going in a circle. Many states have same system or opposite. (Where federal highways have reverted to state ownership, the federal numeral and direction system still applies.)

Does UK have anything similar?

In Germany the same basically, odd numbered Autobahns / Bundesstraßen go North South, the even East West...

I believe that the UK also follows this rule at least to a great degree....could a UK resident chime in here please?

I know that in the UK a lot of major roads run diagonally, because of the position of London with the rest of the country, but the South coast Motorway (M27???) runs mostly East West.....(all from memory which is not really safe!!), but the M5 and M1 run basically N S. M62 E W......we will see!!

I wonder how far back such decisions were first made?

Roads are numbered roughly to do with their starting location:

From London, road numbers start with a "1", A1 to Edinburgh, etc.

The South East has the "2"s,..........

Carlisle area has "6", Edinburgh "7", Glasgow "8", Perth and above "9"

There was also the intention when the system was set up that the smaller th number, the more major the road - all city-to-city roads had 1 or 2 digits, smaller roads had 2 or 3, and the minor, mainly "B" roads had 3 or 4.

Coming to think of it, this probably still applies: the M876 connects a motorway to near a bridge (Kincardine). (and it is near Glasgow)

Nah..pseudo random numbers... Some one once spent all day going round the M25 (London Orbital) thinking they were going North. (So as not be labeled ageist or sexist I won't mention the age or gender of the person!)

...how many times did they pay at the Dartford crossing????

Did they have Breakfast, Lunch and tea all at the same Motorway stop? At different times of course!

Would it be wrong (PC wise) of me to ask what the hair colour was?

Actually, if they had read the signs, several (M10, M1, M11 I believe) all mention North....it could be even more!!

The one that immediately springs to mind is the ever increasing number of road signs saying

"Speed enforcement camera ahead"... As we're all law abiding citizens why do we need to know this?

And why aren't there signs that say

"Speed enforcement camera behind - please speed safely"!!!!!

John.

Here, in US WalMart stores, attendants wear blue shirts emblazoned with the phrase, "How may I help you"...on the back. You're most likely to need assistance, I suppose, from attendants who are running away from you.

Check my avtar... There are many more, ....

"Bridge May Freeze Before Road" One of my personal favorites.

The bridge may well freeze before the road, since the underside is exposed to ambient temperature, while the rest of the road is in contact with the soil. The soil maintains a fairly constant temperature year round, and may be warmer than the air in winter. Our troglodyte ancestors used this to their advantage, reducing their heating and cooling bills.

I wonder though! Was I the only kid ever perplexed by signs that read, "Wet Pavement," or "Ice on Bridge"--no matter when?

I 70 west bound out of Baltimore Maryland mileage sign for Denver Colorado 1900 miles.

Heading east out of Barstow, CA there is a sign on I-40: Willmington, NC 2454 miles

Up here in Shetland we have a sign pointing you towards twatt. Actually this is the name of a place and is pronounced twot but it gets the tourists giggling.

I'm delighted someone else has pointed this out. I think the Traffic Dictatorship should consider how much time a driver should spend looking at the road and how much reading signs before acting. Around us there is a horrible pox covering our roads which are wind and solar powered illuminating signs paid for by speeding fines (thanks to government rules the local authorties can only spend fines on other speed reduction measures. These things are poles like full-sized street lights but with windmills and large solar panels bristling from them with their crowning glory - a light display Pink Flloyd would have given their eye-teeth for in 1972. Great things to improve the look of a British country village.

France still has us beaten though, with their miriad of advertising hoardings, mandatory in every town.

What's particularly irritating about these things is they pick you up and start flashing before you reach the speed limit signs. You may well have intended to slow down to the limit by the time you got there, but this p**sses you off so much you don't!

My favorite says "Speed Zone Ahead." Uh, does that mean there's no speed limit on the stretch of road I'm already on?

There is a nearby state highway with a sign EXIT NUMBERS END. We are lacking a sign that tells us they begin.

"Beware of low flying aircraft." How?

In South Africa there is a drive to change town name to something beginning with a M.

I am always on the lookout for a non existing turnoff ore one that was there the last time In traveled that direction.

We have a cruise ship terminal here in San Diego. For many years, on the I-5 freeway there was (until recently) a sign stating "Cruise Ships Use Grape Street Exit". Hmmm, wonder what would have happened if they had missed their exit!

Someone finally noticed the 'joke' and changed the sign.

What do you think of this road sign?

Don't go to the right?

Maybe it was put up by leftists?

Seen at the Four Wantz roundabout on the A414

(http://www.multimap.com/maps/?&t=l&map=52.560479014242,-1.28134679011175|9|4&loc=GB:52.560479014242:-1.28134679011175:9#t=l&map=51.71283,0.24821|16|4&loc=GB:52.560479014242:-1.28134679011175:9)

+--------------------------+

| Secret Nuclear Bunker -> |

+--------------------------+

Now, how ridiculous is that?

Translation anyone?

Totem pole?

Translation:

At the bottom you will always find the working man. His upward path is a narrow road.

The middle class has an open road until you get on in years, then your road to progress is blocked.

Alas, the upper class has all the freedom of direction and growth.

-A-

HA!!

Sorry, off topic. However, this brings to mind my favorite food package label.

"Caution. After heating, contents will be hot."

-A-

In today's world of 'verbal avoidance' we must'nt use those nasty command words like 'should' and 'must' (whoops, I just did). So I'm waiting for the 'RIGHT LANE MUST TURN RIGHT' sign to be changed to 'RIGHT LANE NEEDS TO TURN RIGHT'. Oh yea, I have this tremendous NEED to turn right!

In Arkansas they fixed the road by putting up this sign: "Road Hazardous When Under Water" -- JHF

Likewise in former East Germany. The bumps disappear when the sign goes up that says, "Strassen schaden"!

~~~~~~~ Ow! Slow down, Leutenant Gruber!

One road repair contractor put up a hand painted sign up on the work site (sorry, don't have the actual picture):

'Took them a couple of months to finish.

Quite often over here we get parents putting up illegal signs saying "SLOW CHILDREN PLAYING". Maybe they should educate them better before letting them out.

We have signs such as : SLOW CEMETARY, DO NOT USE CENTER MERIDIAN FOR PASSING( hmmm, excitement in the grass), NO RIGHT TURN ON RED EXCEPT WHEN LIGHT IS FLASHING (it never flashes),and my favorite; SLIPPERY WHEN SNOWING.

Hi davah,

How about this one:

There's lots more signs and rediculous (sometimes amazing) pictures here.

Cheers

John²

Don't know what happed to the picture that I posted. Anyway, there are some great ones at The oops list.

-John

Sometimes it's just how the information is relayed on the sign. I always get a chuckle out of this one (an example of todays political-correctness gone mad).

Not quite relevant...but the pic reminded me of one of my (many) pet hates.

Maps that are put up with North at the top...'cos some idiot thinks that's the correct way to do it......

Well it is if you happen to be facing North to read it...

I saw one the other day...facing due South, if only they'd errected it on the opposite side of the footpath ... you could then look at the map and direcly relate it to the view.

Can I take this serious hat off now? (it's killing me!)

In a little town I lived some years ago someone wrote a sign saying:

"Don´t speed there are only a few kids left alive in this neighbourhood!"

(sorry r&ddoc)

I once saw a "road" sign that read, "Kayak Crossing." If your road needs this sign, it's not a road.

-A-

If your road needs this sign, it's not a road.

(Sorry -A-) mine is a regular Kayak: it is highway approved!

Motorcyclists must not leap over cars or park on their roofracks.

Historical marker signs with a full page of text at the side of a highway with a speed limit of 60 MPH