Do motorists in Britain know when to stop? Do they know when to give way? When to look left? According to Confused.com, many British drivers do not know their left from their right when it comes to signage.
The research is shocking. Sixty one per cent of surveyed drivers had no idea what the sign for ‘no motor vehicles permitted’ meant. Fifty one per cent of respondents could not decipher the sign for getting into the correct lane on approach to a junction. Sixty seven per cent were baffled by ‘no waiting’ signs. Eighty three per cent perplexed by clearway signs and 93% bamboozled by ‘bicycles only’ signs.
Perhaps more worrying, 76 per cent of respondents were adamant that road signs could be dangerous, not because they constitute a collision risk, but because they are distracting. Remarkably, 43 per cent of motorists admitted to having been distracted by road signage while behind the wheel.
Defending confused motorists, Confused.com’s Gareth Kloet, said: “Our research suggests that many accidents are actually caused by redundant or perplexing road signs.”
Here at The Sussex Sign Company, we agree that some road signs can be difficult to understand. But this is a problem that can be resolved by educating drivers, not removing important or useful signage