Signage improvements: Give Way and Stop signs

This article focuses on improvements to Give Way and Stop signs, specifically to approach signs.  The Stop sign itself does not need to change, and the approach to stop only needs metrication which alone will make it easier to understand.  The Give Way sign will benefit from not only metrication but being made wholly symbolic (by removing the words Give Way), after all an inverted red triangle always means Give Way and does not need to be translated (for example in Wales).  Example signs to illustrate are shown in this article.

Metrication of Give way signs alone (minimum)

As a bare minimum, metrication of Give Way signs, which only affects the actual approach signs, is needed.

Metrication of Give Way 400m ahead:
Give Way 400 yds ahead before metrication (left);
Give Way 400m ahead after metrication (right)

In Wales, the bilingual Give Way ahead sign would need to be converted as follows:

Metrication of bilingual Give Way 400m ahead sign in Wales:
Give Way 400 yds ahead before metrication (left);
Give Way 400m ahead after metrication (right)

However, the Give Way signage can and should be improved so that it is language independent, and therefore less cluttered, especially in Wales.  This is shown in the next subsection.

Metrication and improvements to Give Way signs (recommended)

Give Way signs can be made language independent.  An inverted red triangle already means "Give Way" so this means that no words are required.  Examples of replaced Give Way signs (with all wording removed) are shown below:

The updated Give Way sign is language independent and uncluttered:
Give Way sign before (top-left); Give Way sign after (top-right);
Give Way sign in Wales before (bottom-left); Give Way sign in Wales after (bottom-right)

The approach signs to a Give Way, similarly can also have the "GIVE WAY" and their translations removed.  Indeed if it is a Give Way that is ahead, only the distance is needed, this will be enough to say that a Give Way is a certain distance ahead, and means that no translations are required.

An example is shown below, and is yet another example illustrating how language independent signs are clearer, and easier to read at a glance:

Cluttered Give Way 400 yds ahead before metrication (left)
Language independent Give Way 400m ahead after metrication (right)

And an example for Wales is shown below, to illustrate how language independent signs really benefit road users:

Really cluttered bilingual Give Way 400 yds ahead before metrication (left)
Language independent Give Way 400m ahead after metrication (right)

By using the fact that an inverted red triangle means Give Way, and that putting a distance underneath it alone means "Give way 400m ahead", this will make the sign a lot easier to read, a lot less cluttered, and much smaller. You can see how much smaller the supplementary plate would be in Wales, and no translation is required.

An illustration of how to distinguish the updated Give Way x metres ahead from the Stop x metres ahead, is shown below:

Give way 400m ahead (left);
Stop 400m ahead (right)

Further to this, in our previous article Signage improvements: Cycle, bus, tram, and car sharing lanes, we have shown what Give Way signs should look like if there is a bus lane ahead, a combined bus and cycle lane ahead, or a cycle lane ahead.  It is recommended that these look as shown below:

More language independent Give Way signs, which also has a supplementary plate
warning to watch out for a bus lane (left), a bus and cycle lane (centre), and
a cycle lane respectively. The arrow also tells in which direction the bus
and/or cycle is coming.

These signs do not need translation in any language, and removing unnecessary wording i.e. "Bus lane", "Bus and cycle lane", and "Cycle lane" respectively means that unnecessary clutter is removed, and no translation (which would add even more clutter) is required.

Metrication and improvements to Stop sign ahead signs

The Stop sign itself does not need to be updated, and the English language stop sign can be used everywhere in the UK, if it is not done so already.  In most other European countries (including France, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland), the English language "STOP" is used on stop signs. The UK Stop sign is shown below for completeness:

UK Stop sign. No change needed.
Source: Wikimedia Commons

Whereas, the sign indicating that there is a Stop ahead (e.g. Stop 100m)  needs to be metricated.  Stop 100m requires a lot less space and is easier to read than, for example, Stop 100 yds.  An example metricated Stop 100m ahead sign is shown below:

Stop 100m ahead after metrication.

As illustrated earlier, because STOP appears in the supplementary plate, this means that a Stop is ahead and not a Give Way (but remember however that at a Stop sign, you do have to stop and give way, as mentioned earlier).  Again, only the English language stop needs to be included and can be included throughout the UK.  It is necessary to include the word STOP on signs warning of an approach to a stop sign.