Lynn Ruth Miller on harnessing road signs for the greater good

When in Rome

A road sign in Swansea was posted in Welsh, so the locals would understand it. However, instead of announcing the speed limit or warning the drivers of traffic congestion, it translated as: “I am not in the office at the moment.”

I think that should have triggered a new trend in the road signs we all read as we travel the motorways. Why must they be relevant? Why can’t they give us pause for a moment, and ease the road rage that consumes us the minute we hit the road?

Wouldn’t it be lovely if they announced something amusing, or gave us a little nugget to ponder as we swerve through the crowded lanes of traffic filled with angry, intense travellers on their way to something they think is important? I would like to look up from the road and see “Aggression is a Personality Defect’ while I am fighting the five o’clock rush. It would make me pause and realize that the guy in the red Mercedes who cut me off needed therapy, poor fellow. Instead of wanting on his behalf and forgiven the dent in my fender.

There are so many ways that highway signs could change the furious atmosphere on our highways. If I were sloshing down the M23 and saw a sign that said ”Keep The Sunshine In Your Heart”, it would give me pause. Even better, if I saw “Être Serein”, even though I cannot understand French, I would instantly imagine romantic cafes, drinking espresso and gorging on croissants instead of fighting for visibility in the terrible weather.

“I would instantly imagine romantic cafes, instead of fighting for visibility in the terrible weather”

We have all seen the dire warning “Tiredness kills!” that we ignore, because we are in a hurry to get to our hotel. How much more effective it would be to see this, instead: “Machen Sie ein Nickerchen”. There is something so commanding about the German language that anyone seeing this would immediately leave the highway, and rest.

I really see no need to translate road signs that are in a different language. They can spark our imagination, and let us believe they are only cheering on our way. They would make us feel loved by the highway department, and that is such a reassuring thing.

Incomprehensible signs could actually transform driving into a cultural experience instead of a frantic push to get out of one hell and into another.

The world cannot be translated;
It can only be dreamed of and touched.
― Dejan Stojanovic