Street Signs

My son's drama class has been moved for the summer holidays, completely across town and into an area I'm not at all familiar with. We set off this morning leaving 40 minutes for the 20 minute trip, and we *still* managed to be late. I had my phone's gps on but it's really not very helpful about half the time because it is all "turn onto XYZ road" which is fine, but they sign for "XYZ Road" is on some pokey curved stone wall and you can't see it until you're halfway past the street! Ahh!

Why can't they have nice street signs like in America! I don't usually whine about the differences but JEEZE is this place hard to navigate!

I had my phone's gps on but it's really not very helpful about half the time because it is all "turn onto XYZ road" which is fine, but they sign for "XYZ Road" is on some pokey curved stone wall and you can't see it until you're halfway past the street! Ahh!

Why can't they have nice street signs like in America! I don't usually whine about the differences but JEEZE is this place hard to navigate!

I agree.  The road system/signage seems to assume that the people using the roads already know where they're going, with no thought given to helping people navigate in areas they haven't been to before.

My son's drama class has been moved for the summer holidays, completely across town and into an area I'm not at all familiar with. We set off this morning leaving 40 minutes for the 20 minute trip, and we *still* managed to be late. I had my phone's gps on but it's really not very helpful about half the time because it is all "turn onto XYZ road" which is fine, but they sign for "XYZ Road" is on some pokey curved stone wall and you can't see it until you're halfway past the street! Ahh!

Why can't they have nice street signs like in America! I don't usually whine about the differences but JEEZE is this place hard to navigate!

Agreed. It's really annoying. I don't drive yet, but I have to navigate for DH on the iphone when we get lost and I can't stand the lack of clear signage.

Could be worse.  The street signs in Stornoway are all smallish, poorly-positioned....and in Gaelic.  And not even in clearly-written Gaelic; the council decided to with a quaint calligraphic script.  So you've got the barely-legible Gaelic, with the English street name in much smaller type underneath.  The thing is, the Gaelic signage wouldn't be much of a problem, except that, officially, the streets are actually named in English.  So all maps (including the maps given out by the tourist office) and GPS directions list only the English street names. 

My husband has pointed out that U.S. cities are just better planned, because they're newer, but it's more than that.  Even in older, city center areas, there are large, legible street signs and traffic signs. They're all around the same size, and pretty consistently-positioned.  Basically, if you can read, you can find your way around without too much trouble.

Personally, I think too many councils never got the memo, and are still afraid to put the real signs back up, in case the Germans invade.

 Even in older, city center areas, there are large, legible street signs and traffic signs. They're all around the same size, and pretty consistently-positioned.  Basically, if you can read, you can find your way around without too much trouble.
 

Yeah, Philadelphia is an old city, but very logically laid out (thanks to William Penn) with numbered streets along north / south and named streets running perpendicular along east / west.

Personally, I think too many councils never got the memo, and are still afraid to put the real signs back up, in case the Germans invade.

Love this. I also think that in some parts of the UK, google got lazy and just didn't follow up with their mapping. I got lost trying to navigate DH to a Morrisons in the city centre of Melton Mowbray. How is it that even possible? It's not like MB is a big place.

Why can't they have nice street signs like in America!

You haven't been to Rhode Island, obviously. 

It's a running joke there that if a sign goes missing in Providence, it isn't replaced - better to keep out the outsiders! Also, typical directions in RI will include things like, "Turn left where the Star Market used to be." 

The problem is is that you end up having to give directions. I should possibly take it as a compliment that I get stopped and asked directions quite often. But without signage you end up with the old "veer left at the steeple, cut down the alleyway between Boots and Phones For Us" kinda thing. Immediately they are suspicious because of the accent. And people get sort of angry, like I had a hand in setting up the wagon paths on which the streets of Cambridge are based.

In Cambridge the powers that be decided a while back to move the Post Office across the main drag. They basically switched places with Barclays. You can see it plainly from its old locale. Invariably an older person will march up to me and challenge with, 'Cor....whatavetheydone with the Post Office'? My reply, "It's right there ma'am/sir...they've moved it across the street". "Well," angry at me, "What'd they do that for?"

You haven't been to Rhode Island, obviously. 

It's a running joke there that if a sign goes missing in Providence, it isn't replaced - better to keep out the outsiders! Also, typical directions in RI will include things like, "Turn left where the Star Market used to be." 

 

In Massachusetts I never gave directions using street names. I always used routes, traffic lights and landmarks/businesses. The suburbs of Boston are pretty good as far as street signs go though. I just never remembered the street names.

Love this. I also think that in some parts of the UK, google got lazy and just didn't follow up with their mapping. I got lost trying to navigate DH to a Morrisons in the city centre of Melton Mowbray. How is it that even possible? It's not like MB is a big place.

I had a nightmare time trying to get to our hotel in the middle of Glasgow.  Our GPS was off by 1-2 streets, so it would be telling us things like 'In .2 miles, turn right on x street.'  And then we'd notice that we'd just driven past that street.  The GPS was obviously thrown off by buildings, or else had bad data for that area. But of course, because we couldn't see any of the street signs until it was too late to turn onto them, we couldn't try to beat the GPS to the punch, either. 

I ended up having to say 'screw it! We're turning here!' in the hopes that it would recalculate and get us on the right track.  We circled the same few blocks about 4 times, with our destination in sight, before we figured out how to get to it.  Now, the same thing can happen in Madison, because there are a lot of one-ways downtown.  But at least you can tell what street you're on!

I don't trust GPS as far as I can throw it, especially in the countryside. I now check gmaps first, write down directions with pen (how old fashioned!) and pray that whomever is driving knows the area. Then cross fingers that there's a 3G signal when that all fails.

I now check gmaps first, write down directions with pen (how old fashioned!)

I do that too! I love the AA Route Planner! And I always keep a big road atlas in the car so no need for 3G!

Unfortunately, I had looked up my route on gmaps as well, so I had some idea of where I was supposed to be going.

It did not help matters that the street I was looking for had been vandalized so it read "Evil Lane." I quite agreed by the time I actually got down it!

In Cambridge the powers that be decided a while back to move the Post Office across the main drag. They basically switched places with Barclays. You can see it plainly from its old locale. Invariably an older person will march up to me and challenge with, 'Cor....whatavetheydone with the Post Office'? My reply, "It's right there ma'am/sir...they've moved it across the street". "Well," angry at me, "What'd they do that for?"

I walk by Parker's Piece every morning and I get asked directions at least once a week.  I would say the most common place is where is the court, and of course both the Crown Court and the County are on the same street.  I'm not sure what it means that people will feel I know the way though. 

I do that too! I love the AA Route Planner! And I always keep a big road atlas in the car so no need for 3G!

Road atlas... can't trust this all the time either! DH and I went to dinner with his parents and his dad went almost 30 mins in the wrong direction. Whilst DH and his mum argued over the atlas -- where we were going was literally on the seam and obscured by a staple, no joke -- I was eeking out a very slow 3G signal and got us there.

It did not help matters that the street I was looking for had been vandalized so it read "Evil Lane." I quite agreed by the time I actually got down it!

Love this.