Page:Report of the Departmental Committee on Traffic Signs (1946).djvu/10

 REPORT

To LORD LEATHERS, C.H., Minister of War Transport.

, We, the undersigned, having been appointed by you in February, 1943, “to consider the system of road traffic signs and other cognate means of controlling traffic on roads, and to make recommendations,” have the honour to submit our Report.

Scope of review

1. The “Report of the Departmental Committee on Traffic Signs” presented to the then Minister of Transport in 1933 formed the natural starting point for the review with which we were charged. For convenience we shall refer to that Committee as the “1933 Committee” and to its Report as the “1933 Report.” The recommendations made in that Report were accepted almost in their entirety by the Minister and were embodied in the Traffic Signs (Size, Colour and Type) Provisional Regulations 1933, made on 22nd December, 1933.

We have

(a) reviewed the principles laid down and the recommendations made in the 1933 Report,

(b) reviewed the terms of the Provisional Regulations of 1933,

(c) studied the developments which have taken place in matters affecting traffic signs in the ten years since the 1933 Report was issued, and

(d) considered what alterations or additions are now required in the light of subsequent experience and technical developments.

Existing system

2. The system of signposting as it had evolved in this country prior to the setting up of the 1933 Committee had not kept pace with traffic development. That Committee, while retaining much of value in the then existing methods, had to break new ground, particularly as regards advance direction sign- posting. In reviewing the results of their labours, as tested by the experience of the last ten years, we have been impressed by the wide scope of the problem with which they were called upon to deal, and by the thoroughness with which their work was done. It is our view that continuity of policy is an essential factor in the success of any system of traffic signs, and we consider that the system retained or adopted on the recommendations of the 1933 Committee has in its main aspects proved satisfactory in practice. In making the recom- mendations which follow we have therefore suggested only those modifications of, or additions to, existing practice which experience, changing traffic conditions, or technical progress, have shown to be desirable for the promotion of the greater safety and convenience of road users.

Acknowledgments

3. We have held fifteen meetings of the full Committee, and in addition there have been five meetings of two sub-committees appointed to consider particular aspects of our work—direction signposting in urban areas, and the naming and numbering of streets. We invited Mr. J. Rawlinson, M.Eng.,