ROAD SIGNS- FAR AND NEAR

No matter how far you have gone down the wrong road, turn back- Turkish Proverb

Is the above proverb appropriate in the current context, with the installation of new generation directional and information signage along our roads? Readers may draw a lesson or two from the paper in the following pages.

About my Blog

It has been two years since I have been writing in www.wildcries.com and I have posted around 22 blog papers till October 2023. About 35,000 readers from a dozen nationalities have gone through the episodes and some of them posting their comments on the papers. With sustained interest and support from my readers, I intend to continue my writing on themes that will be of appeal to forestry, wildlife and environmental professionals and enthusiasts.

All Roads lead to Rome

It is recorded that during the course of Rome’s history, a vast network of some 250,000 miles of roads were built at the height of the Roman Empire connecting the capital to all parts of the Empire, so much so an idiomatic expression ‘All roads lead to Rome’ had come to stay. Alongside the road margins, they erected stone columns to serve as the earliest road signs or milestones, giving distance or direction to Rome. As for India, historical accounts show that the Mauryas erected signboards at distance of 10 stades (one eighth of a mile or 180 meters) to mark their roads. In the middle ages, multidirectional signs at intersections became common, giving directions to cities and towns. The first modern road signs were erected on a wide scale in the late 1870s and early 1880s by cycling organizations. These signs were designed for riders of bicycles touring unfamiliar roads that warned of potential hazards ahead (particularly steep hills), rather than merely giving distance or directions to places, thereby contributing to the development of ‘modern’ traffic signs.

The development of automobiles encouraged more complex signage systems using more than just text-based notices. Standardization of road signage at national level commenced in Britain during the first decade of 20th century. In the United States the first road signs made of wood were erected by the regional clubs of the American Automobile Association (AAA) to help motorists find their way around the same time. Intensive work on international road signs took place between 1926 and 1949, leading eventually to the development of the European road sign system. Both Britain and the United States developed their own road signage systems, both of which were adopted or modified by many other nations. While stone or wood made the pre-industrial signs, cast iron continued to be used until the mid-20th century. Sheet aluminum with adhesive plastic coatings formed the board materials during the second part of the last century. New generation signage use reflective plastics in aluminum sheets to provide reflectivity. 

In countries across the globe, road signs are categorized as Regulatory signs, Warning signs, Guide signs, Street name signs, Route marker signs, Expressway signs, Freeway signs, Welcome signs, Informational signs, Recreation and cultural interest signs, Emergency management (civil defense) signs, Temporary traffic control (construction or work zone) signs, School signs, Railroad and light rail signs, Bicycle signs. India closely follows metric measurements in road signs and adopts closely the European practices that is usually identical with the United Kingdom or the Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals.

So much for the history of development of road signage systems.

Learnings from signage in USA

Among several other positive things that I witnessed during my recent trip to the USA, few of the road signs captured my attention the most- largely because of their obvious environmental benefits.

Carpool Lanes

One of the items in my wish list was wine tasting at some of the branded wineries in the NAPA valley, California’s wine country. In our journey from Scotts Valley to the NAPA valley, a 2.5 hour car ride, my nephew drove me through miles and miles of neatly laid vineyards. On our return we travelled through a freeway, which for certain specified stretches has been provided with what is called a ‘Vehicle Pool Lane’. Also known as High-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane, carpool lane, diamond lane, or 2+ lane, it is one of a roadways that has special use to encourage ridesharing and can reduce per capita vehicle miles travelled (VMT). Typically, HOV lanes are open to motor vehicles such as cars, vans, buses carrying two or more people, and sometimes access is open to motorcycles or vehicles that use alternative fuels (hybrid or electric vehicles). Access restrictions on HOV lanes can apply 24-hours a day or only during peak congestion periods. 

The HOV system’s official goals are to increase the people-moving capacity of the freeway system by encouraging vehicle pooling and public transportation, provide travel time savings to HOV users, and reduce overall congestion from normal lanes and to increase system efficiency and decrease emissions. I understand that this strategy of enabling faster travel through vehicle pool lane results in attendant health benefits by way of reducing transportation’s contribution to air pollution and address to a significant extent chronic respiratory human illnesses such as asthma and bronchitis and heart diseases. 

My Google search revealed that California’s High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) system began in 1970 and by 2005 it comprised of 1305 lane-miles of freeway, with 905 additional lane-miles proposed to be added subsequently. HOV facility design in the USA varies from place to place. Virtually most HOV designs are one-lane facilities: the HOV lane is lane 1 or the innermost lane, between the median to its left and general purpose (GP) lanes to its right. Though in India certain cities like Hyderabad, New Delhi, Pune, and Bengaluru have bus priority lanes dedicated for the movement of buses in certain corridors within the city limits, the concept of HOV or vehicle pool lanes, is yet to take off, leave alone systematizing the car-pooling facility. 

Signs of caution

Sign boards have come to serve many purposes, some of which convey warning message against violation of certain laws, advice the road users for conforming to disciplined driving behavior while on wheels and provide information about the wilderness areas to which one is heading towards.

Fine for littering

USA enforces stringent anti-littering laws, particularly in public places. Throughout my stay in the USA and during my travel to many nature-based and other recreation sites, I noticed that the spots where public amenities are located and the highway margins were spec and clean-not without reasons. Firstly, recreation spots, picnic sites and wilderness areas are provided with separate animal proof garbage bins for dry and wet waste to which the garbage is religiously deposited by the public. No spill or reckless open dumping. Secondly, I learnt that the local counties and states impose stiff fines for open disposal of domestic waste. At many locations during our road marches, I could notice bill boards announcing a fine of $500 for littering, which at places mention $1000 as fine for littering. With such heavy penalty and a sound system of enforcement, areas are free of garbage. I compared the situation prevailing in India, where admittedly no penalty is ever imposed against littering public spaces. Further, no effective enforcement in respect of open dumping of garbage is in place. 

Wild animal crossings 

The California state boasts over a dozen National Parks, a multitude of state parks, nature preserves and a long line of scintillating shores and coastal wetlands. The area is obviously rich in wild flora and fauna. Many highways and roads crisscross the ghat sections of the hill ranges, which abound in wild animals. The highway agencies erect appropriate signboards along the road edges to advise the drivers for resorting to cautious driving in certain sections of the road. Such boards carry the image of a wild animal that is commonly occurring in the area and also indicate the distance up to which such instances of animal crossing the road could be encountered. During our canyon tour covering about 1000 miles in three states, namely Nevada, Utah and Arizona, we came across many stretches of highways where a road sign carrying the image of a deer or an elk is found erected. It sent a signal to my nephew to exercise self-imposed speed governance in the particular stretches. In  contrast, such animal crossing zone sign boards are put up alongside few road stretches within only sanctuary or National Park limits in India. When I headed Coimbatore forest circle about two decades back, I arranged to get such wild animal crossing caution boards erected at regular road cross-over zones in the Mudumalai, and Anamalai sanctuaries and in Coimbatore division.

Fire hazard sign in National Parks

Our visit to Grand Canyon in Arizona State, considered as the mother of Canyons was scheduled after our tour of Utah state canyons such as Zion, Bryce and the Antelope. As we struck at the South Rim entry gate of Grand Canyon National Park, leaving behind us Kaibab State Park, the Canyon Park staff was checking our entry pass. This took some time as it was weekend and there was a long queue of vehicles awaiting clearance for gaining entry. Some time for stretching our limbs and relaxing while in the car! On my left stood a sign board that indicated the status of fire hazard in the national park for the day. I was impressed by the innovative way in which the fire hazard status has been made known to the visitors travelling to the park. It contained an arc shaped half-wheel that carried five spokes painted with five different colors viz., light blue, blue, yellow, orange and red, corresponding to low, moderate, high, very high and extreme fire danger in the national park for the day, respectively. As it was spring time in California, I saw the marking arm pointing at the light blue portion of the arc, suggesting that fire hazard is low. What an ingenious way of indicating the fire status and related warning to the visitors through a simple sign board at the appropriate location, I wondered! 

Small is beautiful

While at the USA, I travelled to around five National Parks and a dozen of State Parks and Nature Preserves. Such wilderness areas offer immense scope for day time hiking and cycling, rock climbing, angling etc., besides night stay in tents or recreation vehicles in the designated camp grounds. For the purpose of trekking, innumerable trails have been laid along the scenic locations in these areas, which are graded as easy, moderate or strenuous depending upon the gradient, length and toughness of the trail path. Except for few Ranger-led programs, most of the trail hikes are self-guided. The park management agencies hand out self-explanatory brochure of the area showing the trail maps with the distance and approximate time required to cover each of the route on foot as the travelers check-in at the information counter so that the hikers can walk through the trails independently. The hikers’ experience is further facilitated by trail signs erected all along the trail routes at appropriate junctions in the National Parks, Nature Preserves and State Parks. These sign boards are often of extremely smaller dimensions printed in metal sheets that are usually fixed on a wooden square post of 4-6 inches. Nevertheless, such tiny trail sign boards provide valuable information like the length and direction of the trail so that the tourists can pick the trail of his/her choice without the fear of getting delayed into the night in the forest or lost in the wild. I tend to appreciate the park authorities for installing such fail-safe sign boards in the midst of wilderness. I felt that this is something for the Indian wildlife managers to emulate. As a forestry and wildlife professional from India, I wondered as to how many wilderness areas offer such self-guided hiking trails within their jurisdiction. If at all the trails are existent in some areas, they are far too few and often guided by the forest staff. 

 

In a lighter vein 

Along the sideline of the subject, I came across some very unique sign boards in the country. While on our road journey to Pinnacles National Park, we broke briefly for easing. All along the highway, we noticed extensive gently undulating landscape full of grassy slopes that are vast private ranches. These are protected with a minimal fencing arrangements and we observed that large number of cattle heads are grazing on the meadows. One peculiarly odd sign board erected close to the fence gate of a private firm attracted my attention but at the same time sent a feeling of chillness across my spine. It was a bill board warning dire consequences for trespassers into a private property. It read thus: ‘No trespassing. Trespassers will be shot. Survivors will be shot again’. 

Given the fact that some 25 to 30 percent of Americans hold valid gun licenses and about 4,78,400 fatal and non-fatal violent crimes involving firearms were recorded in 2011, and opening of gun fire in public places are reported at frequent intervals there, I wasn’t doubting the prospect of an intruder getting shot by the property owner. With inquisitiveness, I searched at the internet about the legality of such boards. As I googled to locate such sign images, I was flabbergasted by the sheer number of billboard manufacturers advertising the preparation of sign boards with similar images and their prices. I was then convinced that it is no joke but a matter of serious proposition. If my memory has not failed me, I recollect about noticing a sign board on the banks of Moyar river in Mudumalai sanctuary of the Nilgiris some four decades ago where I was in my first field posting. It approximately read like ' Crocodiles danger. Please don't step into the river. Survivors will be prosecuted'. Message on visitor safety well conveyed!

Near Home

The thought of writing on the subject of signage in the USA as a blog paper haunted me for some time after I returned home. But how to relate what I gained in the USA with what we see in India. I tried to compare notes.

Hide and Seek 

Instances of obliteration of functional utility of the signboards are too many in the country. This could be caused by the unwieldy growth of vegetation along the highways. Either an advance directional or distance sign board erected along the highway is completely or partly blocked from the view of the road users and vehicle drivers or the kilometer and meter stones completely smothered by overgrowing grass or weeds. 

One more thing that is commonly noticed in the urban areas is complete molestation of sign boards and name boards by pasting advertisement posters on them with scant regard for their functional need. When I was recently in my native town for a few weeks, I was taking my morning stroll along the margin of the National Highway passing though the town and was aghast to see at least two of the kilometer stones and most of the granite posts at 200 meter intervals fully covered with ground vegetation. Result is the intended purpose of erecting such guide marks is lost. The relevant highway agencies could do well to ensure clear visibility of the signage by periodical inspection and careful clearing of unwanted vegetation.

Vandalism for Commercialism 

In the modern society, advertising go hand in hand with marketing of products and services. With the boom of printed flex material in the market, commercial and trade establishments resort to these visually appealing but cheaper modes of advertising for selling their products. Except large corporate establishments which hire the designated advertisement spaces along the roads, most other retail business houses/ shops and small time traders are often found encroaching the margins of the highways to erect their hoardings in abject violation of dedicated right of way for the road users. It is not uncommon to notice in India the bill boards, perilously tied to the electric poles or nailed to the tree trunks with scant regard to the rules of the electricity boards, highways/forest departments, respectively. This is more prevalent in the urban and peri-urban areas. Such violations galore especially during festivities. During one of the visits to my home town, I was surprised to find a host of advertisement boards of a single trade establishment fixed to the electric posts in a row for over a kilometer. 

It must be recognized that such practice poses immense threat to the safety of pedestrians and other vehicle users (from an accidental fall), besides obstructing the men of electricity board from attending to any routine service related works, which might aggravate under emergency situations. Nailing the bill boards and advertisement hoardings on to the trunk of the trees will severely jeopardize the functions of the trees besides impacting their life. It is surprising that such gross maltreatment to the common infrastructure have not attracted much attention of the respective law enforcement agencies, as they deserve. 

Key takeaways

Remember that each sign board put along the roadside has a specific purpose. By whatever deed or action, we as road users shall never ever attempt to obliterate the same. If the relevant government agencies care to maintain their sign boards or stones free of any obstruction to the visibility of road users, it will help to ensure their safety and hassle-free travel experience.