Geschichte britischer Verkehrszeichen

History of British Traffic Signs

The pages below present the history of British traffic signs, with a few pictures thrown in for your viewing pleasure.

1. Before the 1920s
2. Classification and Regulation
3. From War to Worboys
4. The Worboys Report
5. 1964-1987: Tinkering around the edges
6. The 1987 Direction Signs Review
7. The Guildford Rules

Most of the information here has come from the Department of Transport's brochure entitled The History of Traffic Signs, which you can get from them free. Some information on 1908 road signs erected by the AA, RAC and local authorities in an Adobe PDF file (41KB) (zu finden im Download-Bereich). Many thanks to David D. Miller for providing this.

1. Before the 1920s

Perhaps it's best to start with a summary of the functions of traffic signs.

• Warning of hazards on the road ahead
• Giving directions to towns/cities
• Instructing traffic to do (or not do) something

It's worth remembering that none of these functions is specific to motor traffic, although this is what we most associate traffic signs with nowadays.

The Romans used directional signs of a sort when they installed milestones along the new straight roads they had built in Britain, giving distances to the next town/military base. When they left, however, the improved infrastructure they had built was left to deteriorate, and the technological advances learnt were forgotten. So the roads and signing fell into neglect. Some fingerposts, giving directions and distances, were erected by private individuals, and there was no standardised system. The reliability would have been dubious too.

Things changed in the 18th century when the General Turnpike Act of 1773 was passed. Under this, Turnpike Trusts were responsible for maintaining the roads using money collected via tolls. Fingerposts had to be erected along the route, and milestones were also installed for the purpose of calculating the tolls payable. There are still a few of these milestones around on the trunk roads - made out of cast iron, and giving the distances to the next town in each direction. I'll try and get a picture of one some time.

Until the mid-19th century, roads were only used by pedestrians, and people travelling on horseback (or being pulled along in a carriage by a horse), so they were sedate affairs. Nothing would be travelling at more than 10 miles per hour. However, the coming of the bicycle changed all that: bicycles were fast and dangerous, both to their riders and to other road users. This was especially true with the roads in such a bad state of repair. An organisation called the 'Bicycle Union', which represented cyclists, took it upon itself to install danger signs at sharp bends and steep hills (with a skull and crossbones for the worst hills!).

Something else that happened in the mid-19th century was the advent of railways and canals as alternative modes of transport. Roads were not unaffected, as they had to cross railways and canals by means of bridges, built of stone or iron. These frequently had weight restrictions, and so the railway company would erect weight restriction signs.

The combination of signs for cyclists, weight restriction signs, and direction signs erected by local authorities meant that there were about 4,000 signs on British roads at the end of the 19th century. They were not of standard design, there were no regulations to restrict their use, and they were becoming so common that they were ignored by road users! The arrival of the motor car, and the abolition of the 'red flag' law in 1896, meant that there was a new kid on the block. Motorists would need more warning signs, as they could travel much faster than cyclists and horses. With more road users, roads would become more dangerous anyway.

In 1903, the Motor Car Act made legislative provision for local authorities to erect their own warning signs. The design, specified in a subsequent Circular (1904), was standard - a hollow red triangle meaning a hazard, a solid red disc meaning a prohibition, or a hollow white ring meaning a speed limit, above an explanatory plate. You can see some of these signs, as well as some later designs, on the following page.

The number of signs appearing on the verge continued to increase: the motorists' organisations the AA and RAC erected their own signs, giving directions and warning of hazards. The official signs were also spreading around the country.

2. Classification and Regulation

The large number of signs on British roads was becoming a problem: there were so many that they were in danger of being ignored. In response, a committee was appointed in 1919 to consider and report on traffic signs. The committee's report, which was used to issue another Circular to local authorities in 1921, suggested the extension of the signing system specified in 1904, with more warning and regulatory signs specified.

In addition to the warning and regulatory sign system, the directional signing was given a good going over too. The roads were being classified and numbered at this time, and it was decided to make the public aware of these numbers, rather than keeping them for offical use only. Thus it was necessary to incorporate the road numbers on directional signs. To this end, fingerposts were standardised with place names in 3-inch high black block capitals on a white background. 'Class I' roads were indicated by a black 'A' and a number on a white background, and 'Class II' roads were indicated by a white 'B' and number on a black background.

Here is an example of a fingerpost, with road numbers on each 'arm'. This picture was taken from the DoT's History of Traffic Signs brochure. Note that this was not an actual sign: the A749 is nowhere near Gloucestershire!

This was all fine and dandy, but highway authorities were still not obliged to use these signs, only strongly recommended. Variants were still being produced, and supplemented by the AA's and RAC's signs.

Yet another Circular was issued in 1930, still not obligatory. This introduced advance direction signs: cars were capable of travelling so fast as to need to brake sharply when the driver realised he had reached a junction, and needed to make a decision. These new signs (which had worded legends, e.g. 'TURN RIGHT', and arrows) helped give drivers advance warning of a junction. More warning signs were introduced (for example the 'steam engine' level crossing sign in the table below) and the distinctive STOP sign made its first appearance, although with a more wordy explanation of what the driver was required to do!

Yet another committee was set up to review the signing system in 1931; this reported back in 1933, and finally specified some recommendations which were legally enforceable. There were no major changes to the existing warning signs - the table below shows a selection of the plates (which were mounted beneath hollow red triangles).

However, directional signing was overhauled yet again. The existing system, which consisted largely of fingerposts and wordy advance direction signs (such as 'TURN LEFT FOR LONDON'), was no longer appropriate for faster traffic on the 'A' and 'B' roads. The signs were still black and white, with 'A' roads black-on-white and 'B' roads white-on-black, but there were a few changes:

• A new standard font (the Llewellyn-Smith alphabet) was introduced for use on signs. This had capital letters only, was a sans serif font, and all the letters were 4¼ inches high.
• Road numbers were given much more prominence (their use for navigation had probably been underestimated by the Ministry so far), with 6-inch high type;
• 'Map' signs were introduced, with route number/destinations shown on separate panels affixed to the sign;
• Road numbers reached via the main route were indicated by chequers above the route number.

This is an example of a route confirmation sign, placed just after a junction to reassure drivers of the route they are on. This would have been in South East London, and means that by following this (unclassified) road, drivers could reach the A2, A20 and A21.

This is a 'map'-type advance direction sign, erected just before a junction. Notice that the numbers now have more emphasis than the destinations.

Surprisingly, despite these new regulations, the AA and RAC were still allowed to put up their own signs. These were of the same format as the 1933 Regulations signs, but with the addition of an AA or RAC badge.

3. From War to Worboys

The signing system took a knock during the Second World War, when many direction signs were removed or pointed in the wrong direction, for fear that they would assist German invaders. Perhaps the Ministry regretted replacing the more wordy signs ('FORK LEFT FOR PORTSMOUTH'), harder to understand for non-native English speakers, with clearer map-type signs now!!

Another committee was set up in 1944 when the tide of the war had begun to turn, and it was realised that life had to go on: the signing system would need further modifications and additions.

• Optional reflecting lenses on the red 'danger' triangles, and significant parts of the warning plate beneath;
• Local advance direction signs - white panels (with black lettering) on a black background sign

The triangle-above-plate warning sign system had changed little since 1904, and the Government was coming under pressure to adopt more symbolic signs, similar to European practice. Three symbolic signs were introduced in the 1957 Regulations (children, schools and cattle) but this was a rather half-hearted effort. The 1957 Regulations also saw the introduction of blue-background local direction signs in urban areas, and yellow-background signs on major through routes.

The major development towards the end of the 1950s was the opening of the first motorways - the Preston Bypass (later to become part of the M6) and the M1 from Watford to Crick. The existing signing system was wholly inadequate, and so a committee chaired by Sir Colin Anderson was set up in 1958. The 1962 Anderson report recommended blue-background signs, similar to those in use on motorways in Europe, with no panels. Lower-case lettering (with initial capitals) should be used, as this was found to be easier to read at high speeds.

Here is an example of an early design of motorway exit sign. This differs from the modern design in that the forward line is not vertical, and the exit line is slightly curved.

These new motorway signs were a world away from the existing signing system, with some warning signs dating back to 1904, and direction signs back to 1933. A new committee was appointed, chaired by Sir Walter Worboys, to review signs on roads other than motorways, including urban areas.

4. The Worboys Report

The Worboys committee delivered its report in 1963. The recommendations, most of which were implemented in the 1964 regulations, marked the biggest change yet in British traffic sign design.

The main changes were:

• Signing brought in line with European system, using symbols (without supplementary wording) to warn or order drivers:
• Warning signs now had a symbol contained within a red triangle; This means 'road narrows ahead'
• Regulatory signs had a symbol within a red ring (prohibitory) / blue ring (mandatory); This means 'no overtaking'
• New colour coding system:
• White on dark green for primary routes (with route numbers in yellow);
• Black on white (with black border) for non-primary routes;
• Black on white (with blue border) for local destinations (on both primary and non-primary routes);
• New fonts (as used in the pictures above) - the Transport Alphabet series, designed by Jock Kinnear. As with motorway signs, the letters were in lower case, with initial capitals where necessary.

5. 1964-1987: Tinkering around the edges

There were no major alterations to British signs over the next 20 years, but there were a few minor changes:

• In 1970, the use of bilingual signs in Wales was authorised for local directions; this was extended in 1985 to include the non-symbolic regulatory and warning signs;
• In 1975, the old triangle/circle 'STOP' sign was ditched in favour of the red octagonal design, used in Europe;
• Also in 1975, the mini-roundabout was introduced, and a sign was needed for this;
• In 1981, the first metric signs were introduced. Although lengths continued to be signed in miles and yards, the metric tonne was phased in for weight restriction signs, and the metre began to be used for height restrictions.
• Signs were also needed for new features in the roads, for example traffic calming.
• White-on-brown tourist attraction signs were introduced in England and Wales after a successful pilot in Kent in 1986 (the Scots had already implemented their own).

6. The 1987 Direction Signs Review

This study was the first major reconsideration of directional signing strategy since the Worboys report in 1963.

Consultation

The DoT carried out a consultation exercise with local highway authorities, police and road user groups, to get their opinions on what changes, if any, would be necessary.

The main comments received were:

• The Worboys system was basically sound, and still suitable for the traffic conditions. However, the signing had not been fully and consistently applied across the country.
• Tourist attractions should be better signed; since the Worboys report, tourism in Britain had grown tremendously.
• Signing in urban areas was unsatisfactory: there was a lack of continuity (of destinations, route numbers) in signage, and many pre-Worboys signs remained.

A ten-year deadline (ie 1997) was imposed on the removal of pre-Worboys signs. The exception was fingerposts on unclassified roads in rural areas, where traffic was travelling more slowly anyway. The introduction of modern signs in these locations was deemed intrusive and out-of-place.

The problem of urban signing was to be addressed by a 'good practice' project in Guildford, Surrey. The existing signage would be replaced by more consistent, and less cluttered signs. 'Before' and 'after' pictures of the signing would be presented, to enable other highway authorities to make improvements. As well as improvements in consistency, the changes included use of junction nameplates (eg "Apex Corner") on the top of signs, and colour-coded signing of car-parks.

Signage in London was particularly bad; much of it was to long distance destinations rather than localities within, or immediately outside, the urban areas. However, as the M25 had just been completed (in 1986), such long-distance signage was no longer appropriate or necessary. In addition, there were still a large number of thirty-year old pre-Worboys signs. A review of London signage was announced for 1988 (carried out by MVA Consulting).

Research

In parallel with the consultation, the TRRL carried out some research in 1985 to assess the public understanding of direction signage. They found that:

• Most respondents did not know the difference in meaning between black-on-white signs with black borders (non-primary routes) and black-on-white signs with blue borders (local destination signing): only 23% correctly identified what a blue-bordered sign meant, and 32% a black-bordered sign.
• 45% of respondents correctly recognised green-background signs as being for "major/primary roads"; the use of green 'patching' on a non-primary route to indicate a primary route ahead was also generally understood (66% of respondents).
• The most recognised sign sample was an example of a motorway direction sign. 87% of those asked correctly identified what the blue background meant.
• Although understanding of the signage system was mediocre, it was much better than in 1966/7 (just after introduction of the Worboys system), when as many as 50-70% didn't recognise green signs or green 'patching'.

In the light of this, the TRRL looked at ways of reinforcing the difference between blue-bordered and black-bordered signs. Among the options proposed were:

• The introduction of blue (rather than black) chevrons on the flag-type signs for local destinations;
• The merging of the functions of the two signs into black-bordered signs;
• The merging into black-bordered signs, but with capital letters for non-local destinations;
• Blue lettering for local signs.

The first option would only work for flag-type signs. Blue lettering and capitals would be less easy to read at speed, which would threaten the aims of the Worboys system. The second option was thus recommended by the steering-group, and then adopted by the DoT. The change would not be immediate; old blue-bordered signs would be replaced with black-bordered ones at the end of their lives.

7. The Guildford Rules

In the 'good practice' pilot of signing in Guildford carried out following the 1987 Direction Signs Review, the 'patching' system developed in the Worboys report was extended:

• All signs on primary routes were given green backgrounds, including those for local destinations;
• Where a non-primary route left the primary route, the destinations reached by the non-primary route were shown on a white panel;
• Likewise, on the non-primary route, destinations reached by travelling along the primary route were shown on a green panel on the white sign (previously, the route number only had been on the panel);
• There was still to be no patching on 'flag'-type signs.

In addition, other signs introduced as a result of the Guildford pilot were:

• The introduction of junction names on the top of direction signs to aid navigation;
• Variable car park signing, with a standardised colour code introduced across the country to allow drivers to distinguish short-stay from long-stay car parks;
• Including certain regulatory signs within direction signs: this was useful for displaying (e.g.) weight restrictions on side-roads, without the need for another sign.