Rob's Blog
The usability of road signs
22nd Dec 2006 14:12
It's become evident that functionality and usability testing is taking over my life. I started thinking about road signs way too much when I was driving back from Hazels earlier this week. I realised that there's a few road signs that really grind my gears... I truly have reached new heights of sadness.
Permanent 'queues likely' signs
These signs are actually saying: “You're stuck in a traffic jam right? Ha. Yeah. Well, we knew that was going to happen. The reason is that we can't be bothered to fix the road system aheadâ€. I genuinely hear Nelson's “ha ha!†in my head every time I see one.
Temporary 'fog' signs
The fog was really bad driving back to Somerset. I've never seen fog like it. But why on earth do we need signs on the M25 every single mile telling us in big flashing letters that it's foggy? It was bloody obvious that it was foggy, and those signs are no more necessary than signs saying 'hey, did you notice it's dark outside?'. They're big flashy distracting signs that seem to serve no true purpose.
Speed camera signs without speed limits below them
I've only seen a couple of speed camera signs that do have the speed limit posted below them. They're brilliant.
But all other speed camera signs suck. Whenever I see a speed camera sign that doesn't have the speed limit posted directly alongside it I spend the next 20 seconds checking my speed, checking the road for speed limit signs, checking the speed of all the cars around me, looking for the camera, wondering when the last sign I saw was... if there's one thing you don't want to do on the road it's to make somebody think too much.
Not including the speed limit right next to speed camera signs is just plain silly.
