History of British Traffic Signs
The pages below prent the history of British traffic signs, with a few pictures thrown in for your viewing pleasure.
1. Before the 1920s 倾我一生一世念
2. Classification and Regulation
3. From War to Worboys
4. The Worboys Report
5. 1964-1987: Tinkering around the edges
6. The 1987 Direction Signs Review
7. The Guildford Rules 电脑网页版
Most of the information here has come from the Department of Transport's brochure entitled
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The History of Traffic Signs, which you can get from them free.
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Some information on 1908 road signs erected by the AA, RAC and local authorities in an Adobe PDF file (41KB). Many thanks to David D. Miller for providing this.
1: Before the 1920s
Perhaps it's best to start with a summary of the functions of traffic signs.
o Warning of hazards on the road ahead
o Giving directions to towns/cities
o Instructing traffic to do (or not do) something
It's worth remembering that none of the functions is specific to motor traffic, although this is what we most associate traffic signs with nowadays.
The Romans ud directional signs of a sort when they installed milestones along the ne
w straight roads they had built in Britain, giving distances to the next town/military ba. When they left, however, the improved infrastructure they had built was left to deteriorate, and the technological advances learnt were forgotten. So the roads and signing fell into neglect. Some fingerposts, giving directions and distances, were erected by private individuals, and there was no standardid system. The reliability would have been dubious too.
qq如何拉黑好友Things changed in the 18th century when the General Turnpike Act of 1773 was pasd. Under this, Turnpike Trusts were responsible for maintaining the roads using money collected via tolls. Fingerposts had to be erected along the route, and milestones were also installed for the purpo of calculating the tolls payable. There are still a few of the milestones around on the trunk roads - made out of cast iron, and giving the distances to the next town in each direction. I'll try and get a picture of one some time.
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Until the mid-19th century, roads were only ud by pedestrians, and people travelling on horback (or being pulled along in a carriage by a hor), so they were date affairs. N
othing would be travelling at more than 10 miles per hour. However, the coming of the bicycle changed all that: bicycles were fast and dangerous, both to their riders and to other road urs. This was especially true with the roads in such a bad state of repair. An organisation called the `Bicycle Union', which reprented cyclists, took it upon itlf to install danger signs at sharp bends and steep hills (with a skull and crossbones for the worst hills!).
Something el that happened in the mid-19th century was the advent of railways and canals as alternative modes of transport. Roads were not unaffected, as they had to cross railways and canals by means of bridges, built of stone or iron. The frequently had weight restrictions, and so the railway company would erect weight restriction signs.
The combination of signs for cyclists, weight restriction signs, and direction signs erected by local authorities meant that there were about 4,000 signs on British roads at the end of the 19th century. They were not of standard design, there were no regulations to restrict their u, and they were becoming so common that they were ignored by road urs! The
arrival of the motor car, and the abolition of the `red flag' law in 1896, meant that there was a new kid on the block. Motorists would need more warning signs, as they could travel much faster than cyclists and hors. With more road urs, roads would become more dangerous anyway.
In 1903, the Motor Car Act made legislative provision for local authorities to erect their own warning signs. The design, specified in a subquent Circular (1904), was standard - a hollow red triangle meaning a hazard, a solid red disc meaning a prohibition, or a hollow white ring meaning a speed limit, above an explanatory plate. You can e some of the signs, as well as some later designs, on the following page.
The number of signs appearing on the verge continued to increa: the motorists' organisations the AA and RAC erected their own signs, giving directions and warning of hazards. The official signs were also spreading around the country.
2: Classification and Regulation
The large number of signs on British roads was becoming a problem: there were so many that they were in danger of being ignored. In respon, a committee was appointed in 1919 to consider and report on traffic signs. The committee's report, which was ud to issue another Circular to local authorities in 1921, suggested the extension of the signing system specified in 1904, with more warning and regulatory signs specified.
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In addition to the warning and regulatory sign system, the directional signing was given a good going over too. The roads were being classified and numbered at this time, and it was decided to make the public aware of the numbers, rather than keeping them for offical u only. Thus it was necessary to incorporate the road numbers on directional signs. To this end, fingerposts were standardid with place names in 3-inch high black block capitals on a white background. `Class I' roads were indicated by a black `A' and a number on a white background, and `Class II' roads were indicated by a white `B' and number on a black background.
