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There are some of us who are not natural travellers. We can barely remember the way to the toilet, never mind calculate the necessary multitude of distances and directions, on the fly, while trying to navigate on the road.
One booboo that comes up time and time again is failing to realise you've
gone past something - a building, a district, or even a city. I see an easy solution to this - Go Backwards Signposts - signposts that show you what's *behind* you. It's the one direction every signposter forgets, but one of the four direction you should never ignore.
There's no practical problem here. I'm not suggesting *everywhere* behind you is put on this crazy backwards signpost, obviously, just as not everywhere in front of you is put on crazy forwards signposts. And they'd just slot right onto the back of the existing, traditional signposts, so you've got the same information as the guys coming towards you.
Here's an example. You're going along, panicked and late, trying to get to Bromley. Bromley's behind you but you don't know that and your friends are laughing at you. You get to a roundabout and can't see Bromley on it anywhere. Disaster... you drive around for two hours, run out of petrol, and try shoving leaves into your engine for energy.
... when it could be as simple as this - you get to the roundabout. Bromley is on it. You need to turn around. Bam. You get to the party, you get lucky, and your friends think you're the best.
Now, what symbol to use? Well, actually, there's a limited edition of Go Backwards Signposts out at the moment - used for service entries, telling lorries they need to turn around to get entry to a site. They look like little loops that clearly show you that you have to go backwards.
Well, this should surely be a new universal signpost. Surely. Because before we have Crazy Taxi-style arrows floating above the dashboard of every car, this will be a great help.
3D Directional Road Signs
http://www.halfbake...onal_20Road_20Signs
Visible from any direction. [phoenix, Oct 17 2004]
[link]
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So that's what all those stop signs are for. |
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But what if you're driving in the desert, where there are no leaves? |
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Seriously, if you've just passed Bromley, and you get on a roundabout, wouldn't the sign say "Bromley" when you've gone 360 degrees on the roundabout? |
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You go round every roundabout, you get very dizzy. |
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Seriously though, yes you *could* (and, when lost, often do) inspect all exits of a roundabout, and you *could* get a map out and have a look, or pay more attention when driving, but Go Backwards Signposts would still be helpful - nonessential certainly, but helpful. |
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And about getting lost in a desert, I'm working on a new idea, Sand Engines. |
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We've got those here in the American West. They say "Whoa pardner, y'all passed us! So-and-so Casino 2 miles back." |
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//Now, what symbol to use? // |
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If an "up" arrow means forward, wouldn't a "down" arrow be logical for backward? |
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Thank God we don’t have many of those roundabouts in the US. They are so confusing. Of course, the US is very big, so it doesn’t make sense to be going around in circles. In Britain, on the other hand, if you were to go straight for any distance, you’d plunge into the Atlantic.
But that aside, I really like this idea. So often I find myself peering over my shoulder at the signs behind me, those signs facing in the other direction that are designed for the people going the other way, trying to see if I’ve missed my exit.
And that is extremely dangerous, I’ve been told. (I didn’t think so, but a patrolman was kind enough to stop me just to tell me that.) |
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Perhaps we could just make [pluter]'s behavior more safe. On freeways just install signs on the back of each sign with the name of the city you just passed written backwards. This way you can use your mirrors, enabling you to check that blind spot and orient yourself all at once. |
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I seem to remember something like this on I-95 just south of Washington DC, at an exit ramp, said "to I-95 north: Washington DC" |
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plute, roughly speaking, the atlantic is generally only on the southwestern side as the Irish sea is to the west and the north sea to the east and the english channel to the south - but of course you are right, nowhere here is *that* far from the coast. |
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Yes of course, I should have said “water” instead of “Atlantic”, but I was speaking mainly to the yank-bakers. Anyway, in Britain, it’s best to keep looping around in circles, at least until you can find a place to park. I figure you could park in Scotland and walk into downtown London.
But perhaps my geography is off. |
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I think your best bet is to park in Belgium, then walk into London, as long as you don’t mind getting your toes wet. |
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plute, you can walk farther than I can... |
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re the observation that in Britain you're never far from the coast. The state of Florida has recently begun a tourism campaign that emphasizes the same fact about Florida (you're never far from salt water, they say). So maybe the British Tourism Ministry (or whatever it's called) could run ads that say, "England...just like Florida." |
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It's past midnight, and the only recenty-
annotated topic is 'magnetic door
opener and closer'.
The Random button was made for
moments like this.
Regarding
the placement and style of the
'backwards' signs, this is easy: just have
them on the backs of the roadsigns on
the other side of the road. Their
location (on the wrong side of the road)
then makes
it obvious that they are referring to the
opposite direction, and they take up
only the currently un-used rear surface
of existing roadsigns. If needs be, the
whole sign could have a different
background colour from 'forward facing'
signs, in case anyone is still in doubt.
Bloody brilliant idea, Zeph. |
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Umm, actually, this may be a different idea I just had... |
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Shouldn't the backwards signs also be printed in mirror writing? |
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The words for "backwards left" and "backwards right" should be Bleft and Bright. It would be common to pass a sign saying "Route 101, next bleft". |
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I've just been in Spain, where the road signs seem to have a strict order of size, depending on how big the road is. It seems sensible, until you drive off a motorway exit, and the 2 biggest signs are to go back onto the road in the direction you were travelling, or back to where you have just been. It can be quite tricky to find where you want to go. I've just realised that this point isn't exactly strictly relevant, but nearly, and I'm too tired to try and make it more relevant |
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I would think the symbol would be the U-turn sign - or an inverted U-turn sign. |
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