Inconvenient Annoyances

Another inconvenience here for me...

I swear without Google maps I'd be lost in Britain! What is it with Britain and hidden or nonexistent street signs? :-P

I know right? The fact that they are so often down at car door level or lower rather than at a height you can actually see them when driving. Or partially obscured by growing things...

Another inconvenience here for me...

I swear without Google maps I'd be lost in Britain! What is it with Britain and hidden or nonexistent street signs? :-P

I particularly dislike the signs that are printed on the road surface.   They are often partly or mostly worn away so you can't see them, but I'm not used to looking at the road for directional signs in the first place!  Then there are the abbreviated place names like, B'ham or D'water, by the time I've figured out what the abbreviation is for I've already taken the wrong turn!   

I particularly dislike the signs that are printed on the road surface.   They are often partly or mostly worn away so you can't see them, but I'm not used to looking at the road for directional signs in the first place!  Then there are the abbreviated place names like, B'ham or D'water, by the time I've figured out what the abbreviation is for I've already taken the wrong turn!   

I'm with you, signs painted on the road drives me nuts.  I especially hate the ones that say "Wrong Way " or Do not enter but you are supposed to ignore them because they are upside down and therefore meant for people coming the other way.  I always read them quickly and think it's for me, it takes a long time to twig  the upside down part.  My brain just doesn't work like that.

I also hate when the writing on the road is obscured by other cars.

I'm with you, signs painted on the road drives me nuts.  I especially hate the ones that say "Wrong Way " or Do not enter but you are supposed to ignore them because they are upside down and therefore meant for people coming the other way.  I always read them quickly and think it's for me, it takes a long time to twig  the upside down part.  My brain just doesn't work like that.

I got confused by some of the signs on the road in the US. They were written in the wrong order for my brain to read them coherently.

For example:


Presumably it's been written with the intention that because you're coming towards it, you will see Stop first, followed by Ahead. However, my brain takes in the whole phrase at once, so I need it to be painted in the right order (top to bottom) for it to make sense !

Other examples:

This one....assuming perhaps that it is there because of that dirt road ahead on the right....maybe a farmer pulling out on a tractor....should you make the driver look down and read text on the tarmac at this critical time?

They repaved a roundabout near me on the way to Winnersh Triangle.  The road now says W'RSH TRAIN.  I laughed and laughed that they had misspelled Triangle to train.... until I realised that was the lane to be in if going to the train station.     DOH!

Other than what Son of Sailor just said, I do like this because it makes it obvious what the speed limit is.

I get annoyed with the UK speed system that relies more on the driver knowing the speed limit by heart for each situation rather than just putting up a sign telling you what it is.  For example, those signs telling you that the national speed limit is in effect and they expect you to know what number that is. 

The other day I was on a road where they had many signs telling you about the speed cameras stopping or starting for miles, but nothing to remind you what the limit actually is.  I should know because I spent an entire day on a speed awareness course where we discussed it for hours, but a sign is so much easier

You can work out what the speed limit is based on the road you're on... Which you probably learned on your speed awareness course.

- if it's a single carriageway and there are no speed limit signs, but there are street lights, it's 30 mph

- if it's a single carriageway and there are no speed limit signs, but there are no street lights, it's 60 mph

- if it's a dual-carriageway and there are no speed limit signs, it's 70 mph

- if the speed limit is anything different from above, it's a legal requirement to have speed limit signs posted at specified intervals along the road (i.e. 20, 40, 50 mph).

So if you can't see a speed limit sign anywhere, you use the type of road you're on to work out if it's 30, 60 or 70 mph.


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You can work out what the speed limit is based on the road you're on... Which you probably learned on your speed awareness course.

- if it's a single carriageway and there are no speed limit signs, but there are street lights, it's 30 mph

- if it's a single carriageway and there are no speed limit signs, but there are no street lights, it's 60 mph

- if it's a dual-carriageway and there are no speed limit signs, it's 70 mph

- if the speed limit is anything different from above, it's a legal requirement to have speed limit signs posted at specified intervals along the road (i.e. 20, 40, 50 mph).

So if you can't see a speed limit sign anywhere, you use the type of road you're on to work out if it's 30, 60 or 70 mph.


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You are right that those are the speed limits, and you are right that I and everyone else who drives should know them, but what's wrong with a sign every once in a while?   I prefer the American system where they simply tell you what the speed limit is.

Speaking of speed limits.... am I the only one who finds traveling along at 20mph difficult?  I have such a hard time staying under the limit and figuring out which gear to be in - 2nd or 3rd.  The car just doesn't want to do it!  (Not that I'm anthropomorphizing or anything of course.  )  Even my British husband has a tough time with that one.

In the US the limits are often on the 5 - so 25 mph instead of 20 (notice this with money too, but that's another subject), which is still hard sometimes, but I guess I'm more used to that one.  Loads of areas up here have 20mph limits.

Technology will clear all of this up..

Yeah, the 20 limit is hard for me too... Especially as they've only recently reduced it from 30 to 20 in a lot of places... So I've spent years driving along them at 30 and now I have to go down to 20 instead... It's not easy to remember to slow it down!

In terms of gears, I think I usually drive in 3rd on the 20mph roads.


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You are right that those are the speed limits, and you are right that I and everyone else who drives should know them, but what's wrong with a sign every once in a while?   I prefer the American system where they simply tell you what the speed limit is.

I'm with you on this one jim! 

Speaking of speed limits.... am I the only one who finds traveling along at 20mph difficult?  I have such a hard time staying under the limit and figuring out which gear to be in - 2nd or 3rd.  The car just doesn't want to do it! 

Our next car will likely be an automatic. I don't usually like automatics in small cars.....but all we usually do is drive locally. Traffic is crap so all you do is spend your time shifting from 1st to 3rd.....I never was a "boy racer", so a wimpy automatic will do for city driving. It took my wife a while to get used to the Subaru Forester we had back in the US....but eventually got so she liked the simplicity (automatic) of it.

I haven't noticed anyone desperately trying to decelerate to 20 mph hereabouts.  Mostly they're trying to do 40+ in a 30 zone.  The council is considering putting 'sleeping policemen' across our road.  Good luck with that one -- there will probably be airborne motorbikes.