Don’t make me read while driving
Photo Credit: Right Lane Must Turn Right by Manish Bansal
If I drive to work, on my way home I encounter 6 or 7 signs like the one above all in a one-mile stretch. To make matters worse, the signs alternate between “Must Turn Left” and “Must Turn Right.” Even though I’ve made the trip many times, I still get tripped up by these signs.
There are several design problems here. The signs are small, the text is almost identical between “Left” and “Right” signs, and the wrong word is emphasized. When I look at the sign, the first thing my eye is drawn to is the “MUST” in the center – not only is it slightly bigger than the other lettering, it’s also centered (both vertically and horizontally) and is the only word that gets its own line. However, the information I really need is which lane will be turning. In order to distinguish between a “Must Turn Left” and a “Must Turn Right” sign, you have to read it every time, which takes attention away from what you should be doing: driving.
There is a simple and common solution: use arrows.
Photo Credit: Right Turn Only by pwinn
There is no confusion here. You know which lane is turning just by glancing at the sign. And yet, the text-only signs are so prevalent in my area. Maybe there is a reason for this that I am unaware of? I’d hate to think it’s a never-ending case of “well, everyone else is doing it…”
Glad that its not only me who has found this foolish, dangerous and really tricky.
I live in Boston area and have found that anyone who is not familiar with area, gets no help or is almost confusing most of the signs.
Just wondering, why doesnt US adopts the International Driving Signs (just like most EU countries) where most of the information is Sign and not a lengthy sentence.
“Enter Here” , “Next Exit 2 Miles” “Do Not Enter”, “No Turn on Red” , “One Way Traffic”…. the list is pretty long..