Signage improvements: Turn signs for One Way and Dual Carriageways revisited

Following the feedback and comments I have received on a previous article, "Signage improvements for mandatory direction and turn signs", and having thought about this some more, I have had some more thoughts and alternative ideas for the turn signs, one way roads, and dual carriageways.

Joining a one way route or dual carriageway

In one of my previous articles, it was suggested to remove the supplementary plates "One way" and "Dual Carriageway" for mandatory turn signs which at first looked wasteful, but these are in fact necessary and have legal meaning, and would be impossible to remove.  Thanks to Bryn Buck and the one of the anonymous guys for your explanations as to why the supplementary plates "One way" and "Dual carriageway" are necessary.

For one way signs, as suggested by Gareth, one can use a design similar to the Canadian/American/German design (although the American version says "ONE WAY" inside the arrow and the German version says "Einbahnstraße"), for the joining a one way route sign - in fact the design would the same as the existing UK one-way sign rotated.

For turning onto one way signs, the "One way" supplementary plate could be retained and the sign left as is, or alternatively removing "One way" plate, if one uses a symbolic supplementary plate for dual carriageways whilst retaining the circular mandatory left or mandatory right turn sign.  Another alternative is that one can also extend the notion that existing one way signs have a rectangular border (cf. mandatory turns), to all one way signs.

This is illustrated below:

Possible replacements for joining one way street, and turning-into one-way street.

This would distinguish one way signs from the mandatory turn signs (including for dual carriageways), and would render the "One Way" supplementary plate redundant. Thank you Gareth for your suggestion concerning one way signs.

And instead of removing the "Dual Carriageway" supplementary plate, we can make it symbolic instead, by replacing the text with a graphic which reflects the general road shape and direction, from the point of view of the approaching road, lane, or slip road, and showing which is the minor and major road (the graphic would obviously have to vary according to the road). The aim was to retain the legal meaning as well as make it symbolic.  An example for the mandatory direction sign for the dual carriageway is shown below:

Possible replacement of "Dual carriageway" plate with symbolic equivalent.

Obviously the symbol used would need to reflect the shape of the road. The symbol should make clear which lane has the priority, and from which lane one has to give way (which will be the lane or slip road joining onto the dual carriageway).

Stop at dual carriageways

The Dual Carriageway supplementary plate can appear for Stop signs as well on dual carriageways (according to the DfT Traffic Signs Manual).  I believe that the dual carriageway supplementary plates here should be made symbolic too.

An example of an approach to a Stop sign at an urban dual carriageway, is shown below:

Stop with dual carriageway 100m ahead, before (left) and after (right) conversion.

Example conversions for Stop sign at an urban dual carriageway, with the "Dual carriageway" worded supplementary plate replaced with a symbolic equivalent (reflecting the road shape), are shown below:

Stop sign, with example graphics for dual carriageway reflecting the road shape.

Give Way at dual carriageway - if Give Way wording is retained (minimum)

According to the Traffic Signs manual, there can also be Give Way signs at urban dual carriageways.  The words "Dual carriageway" can be replaced with a symbol too.

Even if the wording "GIVE WAY" is retained, converting the "Dual carriageway" wording into its graphical equivalent, in addition to the necessary metrication, will bring lots of benefits as the clutter is reduced.

An example of a conversion for a Give Way approach sign (with "GIVE WAY" wording retained) is shown below:

Give Way at dual carriageway 400m ahead, before and after conversion ("GIVE WAY" retained).

Example conversions for Give Way sign (with the "GIVE WAY" wording retained) at an urban dual carriageway, with the "Dual carriageway" worded supplementary plate replaced with a symbolic equivalent (reflecting the road shape), are shown below:

Examples of Give Way at dual carriageway after conversion, "GIVE WAY" retained.

However, as explained in a previous article, I recommend getting rid of the "GIVE WAY" wording.  Examples without the "GIVE WAY" wording is shown in the next subsection.

Give Way at dual carriageway - Give Way wording removed (recommended)

There is the the fact that including the words "GIVE WAY" makes the signs look a bit cluttered (moreso in Wales where bilingual signs are common). Also, the international meaning of the inverted red triangle with nothing in it, is a Give Way sign as stated in the Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals.  Whereas, the UK has used the inverted red triangle with nothing in it to mean "Approach to Give Way/Stop".

Removing the words "GIVE WAY" and its translations make the sign conform to international norms, more importantly it makes the signs look neater, less cluttered, and avoids the need for translation (one should not forget that Give Way most likely needs translation in Wales).  We can see how much neater the signs look if we metricate, get rid of the words "GIVE WAY", and replace "Dual carriageway" with its symbolic equivalent, especially on the approach signs.

An example of a conversion for a Give Way approach sign (with "GIVE WAY" wording removed) is shown below:

Give Way at dual carriageway 400m ahead before and after, "GIVE WAY" words removed.

Example conversions for Give Way sign (with the "GIVE WAY" wording removed) at an urban dual carriageway, with the "Dual carriageway" worded supplementary plate replaced with a symbolic equivalent reflecting the road shape), are shown below:

Examples of Give Way at dual carriageway, with symbolic supplementary plates and no wording.

The above examples illustrate can see that the signs look a lot neater and a lot less cluttered, without the "GIVE WAY" wording.

Mandatory left or right and One-way to the left and right

Having thought about this some more, I think there is no harm in prescribing "mandatory left or right", as shown below in this article as well:

Mandatory left or right turn.

The rationale for this type of sign would be that if we are going ahead, and at the end of the road, there is a one-way road to the left and to the right.   Using this type of sign means we can replace separate "turn left" and "turn right" signs with a single "turn left or right" where practical.  In addition, roads with a "turn left or right" road marking at the end exist too, so I think if the markings exist, then there is no harm in introducing the sign.  In addition, as per the Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals, mandatory turns are to be in a blue circle.

I have also considered an alternative for one way streets (but only for one way streets), and use a rectangle instead of a circle  This sign is shown below:

One-way street to the left and right.

As one way streets already have rectangular symbols, then one could consider using a rectangular symbol for this type of sign too.

I see no problem with prescribing both the circular and rectangular versions, although personally I would suggest prescribing just the circular mandatory sign as this is Vienna Convention compliant.

Deprecated suggestions

I have also decided not to suggest introducing "mandatory right or straight" or "mandatory left or straight" as there is not enough benefit to justify prescribing these signs, but primarily because the "no left turn" and "no right turn" respectively are sufficient instead, and are also already symbolic.

Deprecated signs (left), and which signs are sufficient instead (right)

Thanks to the other anonymous person, for your feedback regarding the now deprecated suggestions for "mandatory left or straight", "mandatory right or straight", and "mandatory left or right".

This article supercedes the now deprecated article "Signage improvements for mandatory direction and turn signs".  This article also adds to the "Signage Improvement: Give Way and Stop signs" article done earlier.