·         “Signage” has 11 categories—from lane use to railway signs, for example—and 92 illustrations of the most common signs.

 

·         “Signals” has two categories: lane control signals and traffic lights—and 12 illustrations of traffic lights with explanations of the meaning when the variously coloured and shaped lights are steady or flashing.

 

·         “Road Markings” has four categories and 17 illustrations of the various ways in which white and yellow painted lines and graphics on the road surface designate, for example, safe lane change, safe passing, pedestrian crossing, reserved lanes, turning lanes and islands.

 

In total, Chapter Three presents 121 items of graphic information that all drivers need to see, instantly comprehend, and reflexively follow to safely ‘go with’ the traffic flow.  And that’s not all.  Some of the signs, like stop signs, set up flow patterns with their own sets of rules.

 

Anyone who started from scratch to learn all 121 of these items would find it challenging.  Most road users, drivers and non-drivers alike, however, know their meaning, indeed, can barely remember a time when they did not.  And ‘most’ road-users includes most road-users worldwide, many of these items being universal road signage.

 

What most obviously captures our attention or, put another way, what we tend to be most aware of noticing are signage changes along our habitual routes, like a new stop sign or traffic light. Wholly new signs, like the designated Olympic lane signs that have gone up recently all over Vancouver are also attention grabbers.

 

New signage also overshadows old signs in disrepair, even if the new signs deal with a different category of information.  New signage contradicting old but still visible signage is particularly dangerous.  Anecdote and a recent Vancouver Sun column describe the confusion faced by Sea-to-Sky drivers navigating the temporary counterflow lanes marked by reflective yellow sticks and orange barrels placed in spots over faded, painted lines with opposing messages.

 

Many road signs placed too closely together, and road signs with too much information are confusing.  One recent letter to the editor of the National Post newspaper included a photograph of a sign post in Toronto with two signs, one indicating the no parking days of the week and the other, the no parking times of the day, and a third sign combining the week days and times of day in which 15 minutes of parking were allowed.  In densely signed downtown streets, road signs can also easily “disappear”.

 

Perhaps we all assume that the traffic sign experts—government transportation departments—know best, but if you find road signage confusing, chances are pretty good others do too.