There's a lot more to street signs than we realize. We pass them every day from the time we are
little kids till the end of our lives.
Many of us take their existence for granted and we most likely
understand what most of them mean by the time we are driving or within a few
years. There was a point in time though
when traffic signs weren't very common or even nonexistent. This led to a lot of accidents and avoidable
deaths. Even with traffic signs today
though, people still miss them and have accidents; so is there a way to make
our signs pop out more to drivers?
Before cars came along, there were traffic signs here and there,
mostly for cyclists and horse drawn carriages, but there was no uniformity to
them. After cars began to grow more
common across the U.S. from 1900-1920, drivers clubs began making signs and
maintaining them to help make roads safer for themselves and other driver
enthusiasts. This worked in the
beginning, but as cars continued to grow in popularity a need to matching
uniform signs became necessary. Thus in
1922 representatives from Minnesota, Indiana and Wisconsin came together to
decide upon unique shapes which equated to specific messages.
Rectangle – Speed Limit or Mileage Signs
Round – Railroad Crossing
Square – Caution or Attention
Diamond – Curve Ahead
Octagon – Stop Sign
The logic behind this was to help drivers in the dark know the
meaning of a sign when approaching it without being able to read it. These signs all had black text on a white
background. These signs would be
presented and adopted as the earliest national standardization in 1935. This meant Orlando decorative street signs and other non-conforming signs needed to be updated. In
1948 after some years of confusion, the government made some changes to help
with standardization. Interesting fact,
stop signs only became red with white lettering after the invention of fade
resistant materials in 1954. Other
changes eventually led to the signs we have now for warning people about danger
by having the background yellow with black text. Speed limit signs still resemble their
original progenitors.
One issue that has always existed with traffic signs and continues
to plague our roads today; are drivers not noticing them. A recent study done by scientists sat a group
of participants in front of two different sets of signs. Each set had four signs with the same
meanings, but the second set had signs with more dynamic images. The participants said the more dynamic signs
were more eye-catching and increased their awareness of their surroundings. While this was one test and this was the
first time seeing these signs, previous research shows more dynamic signs are
more likely to catch and hold a driver's attention.
