Road Signs in The United Kingdom - History

History

Modern British road signage can be traced to the development of the 'ordinary' bicycle and the establishment of clubs to further the interests of its riders, notably the Cyclists' Touring Club (CTC), the National Cyclists' Union (NCU) and the Scottish Cyclists' Union (SCU). By the early 1880s all three organisations were erecting their own cast iron 'danger boards'. Importantly, as the name suggests, these signs warned of hazards, rather than just stating distances and/or giving direction to places, acknowledging the fact that cyclists, like modern motorists, were unlikely to be familiar with the roads they were travelling along and were travelling too fast to take avoiding action without prior warning. In addition, it was the cycling lobby that successfully pressured government in 1888 into vesting ownership of and responsibility for roads with county councils in previously established highway districts (HDs) that would be funded from taxation rather than tolls. The HDs were active in the erection of semi-standardised directional signs and mileposts in the latter years of the 19th century.

The rise of motoring after 1896 saw the pattern repeated. The larger motoring clubs, notably The Automobile Association (AA) and the Royal Scottish Automobile Club (RSAC) erected their own, idiosyncratic warning boards and direction signs on a wide scale. In addition, under the Motor Car Act 1903, four national signs were created, supposed to be set at least 8 ft from the ground and 50 yards from the reference point. These signs were interesting in being based on shape, rather than text or image; a white ring (speed limited as marked on a small information plate below it; somewhat ironic, given that few vehicles carried speedometers); a white (sometimes red) diamond (a 'motor notice' such as a weight restriction, given on a plate below); a red disc,(a prohibition); and a red, open triangle (a hazard or warning). These latter two could be given detail by the attachment of an information plate below, but often it was left to the motorist to guess what the sign was referring to and local variations as to the definition of what was a prohibition or just a 'notice', for instance, were common. In spite of this confusing beginning, this format of sign was to develop into the British road sign that was standard from 1934 until 1964. Before this time, until 1933, when regulations for traffic signs were published under powers created by the Road Traffic Act 1930, 'national' road signage specifications were only advisory.

Following a review of 'national' signage in 1921 a limited number of warning and hazard information plates were enhanced by the use of symbols, rather than text only. Such symbols had been developed in continental Europe as early as 1909, but had been dismissed by the UK, which favoured the use of text. The symbols were simple silhouettes, easy to 'read' at a distance. Some were peculiarly British: 'SCHOOL' (and later 'CHILDREN') depicted by the flaming torch of knowledge, presumably assuming that all motorists were affluent enough to have enjoyed a classical education. The government was to make increasing efforts to standardise road signs in the Road Traffic Act 1930 (RTA) and regulations of 1933, being finally consolidated with the publication of the 1934 Road Traffic Acts and Regulations handbook. These saw the end of the very individual black and yellow vitreous enamel AA signs (although the AA was still allowed to erect temporary direction signs, and still does). While the RSAC had ceased erecting signs, the Royal Automobile Club (RAC) had begun to do so to RTA specifications (save for the inclusion of the RAC badge) and was very active in this respect in the late-1930s.

The national British signs were now a red disc (prohibition), a red open triangle (warning/hazard), a red ring (an order), and a red open triangle in a ring for the new (1933) warning with order 'SLOW - MAJOR ROAD AHEAD' and 'HALT AT MAJOR ROAD AHEAD' plates. (The predecessors of 'GIVE WAY' and 'STOP'). All signs were to carry information plates mounted below them, the warnings or hazards being illustrated with a wide range of prescribed symbols, but with a text panel below, being only text where no symbol existed. Lettering and symbols were black on a white ground except for orders (like 'TURN LEFT') which were white on blue. New to the UK were the first combination sign, which incorporated information on the sign itself, the 30 miles per hour speed restriction (introduced in 1934), with '30' in black letters on a white disc (the information) surrounded by a red ring (the order sign). It was accompanied by its 'derestriction' a white disc with a diagonal black band bisecting it. Neither of these signs required separate information plates. The 1934 RTA&R also clarified direction and distance signage which also remained in that form until 1964. All signs were mounted on posts painted in black and white stripes, and their reverse sides were finished black, green, or more rarely (usually after repainting) white. The 'HALT' plate was unique in being T-shaped; orders were mainly landscape and warnings always portrait. Sizes were strictly prescribed, the warning plate being 21x12 inches with the surmounting triangle 18 inches equal.

The national signs were subject to minor modification, mainly in the early post-World War II years. For instance, 'SCHOOL' became a schoolboy and girl marching off a kerb, 'CHILDREN' a boy and girl playing handball on a kerb's edge. A train 'CROSSING NO GATES' was given a more toy-like locomotive. Meanwhile the triangle was inverted for 'HALT' and 'SLOW', while 'NO ENTRY' became a combination sign - a red disc bisected by a horizontal white rectangle bearing the lettering. Orders were now black on white, save for 'NO WAITING', which was black on yellow in a red ring. Some of these changes were part of an attempt to reflect European standards.

Early road signs were usually cast iron, but this was increasingly displaced by cast aluminium in the 1930s. Cast signs were designed to be maintained by being repainted with the raised lettering and symbol easily picked out by an untrained hand. This sort of sign was sometimes given an element of night use by the inclusion of glass reflectors. An alternative to casting and painting was vitreous enamelled sheet iron or steel. In the 1950s cast signs were quickly displaced by sheet metal (usually aluminium) coated with adhesive plastics; these could be made reflective, famously by Scotchlite. Such signs had become almost universal by the reforms of the early 1960s.

The major reform of UK road signage to better reflect European practice happened in two stages. The first was associated with the first motorway construction project and the development of a signage system for it by the Anderson Committee of 1957. Although it was additional to the existing signage, it set a number of benchmarks that were developed under the Worboys Committee of 1963 that was largely responsible for the road signage system effected from 1964, which is still current. Until Worboys, the most notable differences between European signs and those in the UK was their reliance on symbols without text wherever possible, thereby increasing the internationalism of their 'language', together with their combined nature, for instance the warning signs having the symbol inside the triangle instead of on a separate information plate. The Worboys Committee recommended that such practices were adopted in the UK and the 'New Traffic Signs' of 1964 were part of the most comprehensive reformation of the UK streetscape that the country has experienced. Unlike previous government efforts to regulate signage, which tended to be cumulative, Worboys argued a modernist position of starting from zero, with all previous signs being deemed obsolete, illegal even, therefore subject to total and systematic replacement. As a result local authorities were charged with massive resignage programmes. Order and Prohibition signs were almost all replaced within a couple of years, with the warning and direction signs taking somewhat longer. Few pre-1964 warning signs survived more than about ten years, and, while direction signs were similarly replaced, more have survived as they were not deemed as essential as the others in regulatory terms.

The system currently in use was mainly developed in the late 1950s and the early 1960s, with additional colour-coding introduced in the mid-1980s. There were three major steps in the development of the system.

• The Anderson Committee established the motorway signing system.
• The Worboys Committee reformed signing for existing all-purpose roads.
• The Guildford Rules introduced features to indicate different categories of route.