Talk:Traffic sign

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Contents 1 United States categorization 2 Traffic signs in Ireland 3 Sign Typefaces 4 Retroreflective Sheetings 5 Reference to U.S. Standards 6 Setup of European colourschemes etc. 7 United States traffic sign database

[edit] United States categorization

There is no reason, as far as I can see, why the categorization used in the United States should be in the introduction. Brianjd

With all the recent editing & re-editing of this section, I'm going to be so bold as to re-categorize it to roughly match the chapter format of the MUTCD. This will result in more logical headings for proposed new articles, and make the categorization & hierarchy clearer to readers. Just because the old categorization matched the layout of the Manual of Traffic Signs site doesn't mean it can't be improved upon.  ;) RCMoeur 14 May 2005

[edit] Traffic signs in Ireland

Quote: Some domestic signs were also invented, such as the no-entry sign (a black arrow in a red circle with a line through)

The present Irish "keep left" sign -- the third from the left in this array [1] (often, in practice, replaced by the British version) -- was perhaps "invented in Ireland". The "no entry" sign was not: it complies fully with one of the two international conventions on traffic signs (the one, as it happens, not adopted by the rest of Europe!). Am not changing the article for the present, as I have still to remember what I did with the link to the relevant convention..! -- Picapica 16:50, 6 Feb 2005 (UTC)

It was the Vienna Convention of 1968, apparently (though in the case of Ireland, that would make it an ex post facto approval!). Incidentally, Brazil and Mexico are two countries which use the same "no entry" sign as Ireland. -- Picapica 20:11, 14 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Quote: Some time after independence, road signs in the south were changed to differ from the UK standard, most visibly in the adoption of US-style "diamond" signs

The diamond-shaped warning signs came in a long time after independence -- in my recollection at the beginning of the 1960s; I would guess under regulatory powers granted in the Road Traffic Act, 1961. (If anyone has more precise information, please do post it here). Before that, most Irish road signs were similar to UK ones (warning signs had a hollow red triangle surmounting a rectangular plate with picture plus words): they were distinctive from the UK signs, however, in having bilingual inscriptions: see here. I recall a few of these signs surviving on rural back roads after the introduction of the new-pattern diamonds, and that they were black-on-yellow as opposed to the British black-on-white (though whether that was "retrospective" re-painting to make them match the new signs, at least in colour, I can't say). -- Picapica 20:11, 14 Jun 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Sign Typefaces

The typeface used on signs in the United States is most assuredly NOT "Interstate". The typefaces predominantly used on signs in the US are the "Standard Alphabets For Traffic Control Devices" developed by the Federal Highway Administration; e.g. Series B, Series C, Series D , Series E, Series E Modified, and Series F. For more info, see Manual Of Traffic Signs - Sign Typefaces page. "Interstate" is a proprietary font family developed by the Font Bureau that is stylistically based on the Standard Alphabets, but varies significantly from the Standard Alphabets in stroke width, letter spacing, letter shapes, and many other details. Interstate is designed for the printed page, while the Standard Alphabets are intended for large road signs read at high speeds. Also, researchers have developed a new font family called "Clearview" to provide improved legibility. The optional use of Clearview is now permitted under FHWA interim approval. RCMoeur 11 June 2005

[edit] Retroreflective Sheetings

Relatively few types of retroreflective sheetings use glass beads as the reflective medium. Many sheeting types now use microprisms instead of glass beads for greater and more uniform retroreflection. RCMoeur 11 June 2005

[edit] Reference to U.S. Standards

I added reference and links to U.S. standards in the body of the article. I'd love to see other standards treated likewise and perhaps a separate section listing them all. MARussellPESE 17:16, 14 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Setup of European colourschemes etc.

The first time I read about the signs in Europe, it seemed a little chaotic. Would it be completele stupid to rearrange that section to show country-by-country instead of signtype-by-signtype?

Example:

• A-land: Motorway: white-on-green. Other direction signs: white-on-blue. Warning signs: black-on-white, red border.
• B-land: Motorway: white-on-blue. Other direction signs: white-on-blue. Warning signs: black-on-yellow, red border.
• etc.

G®iffen 16:16, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] United States traffic sign database

I see that Pilhokim has added a section to the main article that is devoted to his database interface for the US MUTCD. However, his database is not the only one out there on the Internet for US traffic signs, and it would greatly clutter up the article if every owner of such a site decided to also add a detailed listing of all the attributes of each of their websites to the section. Perhaps it might be best instead to distill the section devoted to Pilhokim's site down to a simple listing in the "External Links" section. RCMoeur 03:55, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

I concur. As it stands, the section is clearly linkspam in violation of core policies WP:SPAM and WP:NOT. --Coolcaesar 04:17, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

Well, I feel very sad to see that my work is being treated as SPAM that I really am not intended to do. Also I am wondering where RCMoeur found the traffic sign database on the Internet on which you can do query traffic signs by their low-level traffic sign features. Traffic sign recognition has been my research topic for quite a long time and I thought that this software may help people in many ways to understand the features of traffic signs which are difficult to explain using Wiki texts. Since there is no reason that I open this software while being insulted, I remove the content as you people want. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Pilhokim (talk • contribs) 06:01, 20 March 2007 (UTC).