Road safety signs: Common Mistakes to avoid

 

Road safety signs are a vital part of our daily lives. They are the most efficient guide to navigate road users safe and help the road traffic smoothly. Road safety signs represent important information, reminding the road users about cautions and things they should take care of to ensure their well-being along with other people [Pedestrians, drivers or workers]on the road. These alerts the drivers about what to expect in their path ahead and are usually represented via simple universal icons that are easy to understand.

Road safety signs are warning signals that help in preventing unsafe behaviours or accidents on the road. However, these useful signals can be ineffective misleading if done wrong. A few careless mistakes from the organisation in charge of signage manufacturing and installation can not only make these important lifesaving signs useless but also can mislead people on road causing unnecessary traffic troubles or hazardous accidents in the worst cases when least expected.

To help you understand better about road safety and wellbeing, here are some of the common road safety sign mistakes that most companies make while installing road safety signs.

Placing the signs at the wrong places.

This is one of the common repeated mistakes by most companies which may look like a silly matter but a critical error that can cause major road hazards risking the people on the road.

Installing road signals at wrong joints and unnecessary places or places with lots of road obstructions like trees, placing the signboards higher than the visibility zone. These ineffective installations not make the safety signals useless but also confuse people on road especially those who are new in the city looking for directions.

Road signs are installed for the wellbeing of road users if it is installed in areas where people cannot see, or in zones that are close to risks where the drivers see them on the spot all of a sudden or till they are caught in that risky situation. Installing important navigation or warning road signs in less lighted areas. In such a situation, these road signs are of no use.

To avoid this negative mistake, simply install the road signs in areas or junctions at a position that is easily visible for road users and if its warning signal makes sure to install it a few meters ahead of the danger so that people are alert of the upcoming risk and take precautions like slowing the vehicles or take alternate routes accordingly.

Failing to maintain road safety signs.

At times road signs are simply installed and then forgotten. Failing to maintain the traffic road signs can make the conveyance of critical information on these safety signs less effective.

 Some of the road signs can get faded or damaged with time or due to weather and environmental issues. An unclear broken sign can confuse people.

An organisation that undertakes signage installation should make sure to maintain the installed road signs and update them from time to time as required to make sure that people are getting important traffic information right without any misunderstandings

Outdated signs or faded icons can mislead people causing unexpected accidents risking people’s lives on the road. The organisation in charge of these sign installations should be responsible to commit to their timely upgrade and maintenance rather than just seeing it as one time job is taken care of.

Placing unnecessary signs close together without any purpose.

Just placing the signs at the wrong place, installing too many signs at same too close to each other can confuse the people than guide them right. Roads are zones of unexpected situations and confusions, so it is most efficient to place critical road signs at the right places to keep people well-informed and aware of the road situations. Unnecessary placement of back to back signs within proximity can also be pretty distracting to road users. So, make sure to install signs in critical areas where it is needed within the right visibility to guide people right on road.

Wrapping Up

An ideal effective road safety should be simple, clear and precise. It should be placed in the right areas that are visible to people, also, use the universally accepted icon to consider the diverse mixed cross-over of folks from different places. Make sure that the road safety signs are designed and maintained in the required location to ensure the safety and well-being of people.