Crazy stuff.
I don't know where he ended up in the end... heaven or hell.
Yes it is important to be able to read and quickly register what the road sign you approach either legally demands or in terms of safety, suggests.
It can be challenging, because it has to be said there are a lot of them out there.
I would go further to say there are likely more now than there have ever been.
While it is not unusual to come across the ones with a steam train on them now you'll see signs with aeroplanes on them and cows and sliding tyre tracks and what initially appear to be an advertisement for a bra.
The train one is interesting because it shows a locomotive emitting smoke from a big tall stack because they are an easier outline to draw than a diesel electric.
Were they to use a diesel electric outline youngsters would advise their mum or dad at the wheel that a loaf of bread on wheels was coming up.
Yes, there are a lot of signs out there and when you blend the road signs in with every other sign then it is fair to say there an awful, awful lot of signs out there.
I noticed recently that great overhead direction signs had gone up on the edge of the central city in Napier to tell people which was Thackeray and which was Dickens.
Perhaps the fact both were eminent writers of English literature had begun confusing the GPS systems I daresay pretty well every visitor to the city has strapped on to their dashboards.
But hey, you can never have enough signs can you?
One of these days I will carry out a survey.
I shall drive from here to Wellington and count all the signs along the way and then I'll multiply the total by two... as I reckon it takes about two seconds to register them into one's head and determine what they are indicating or advising (or selling).
Let's say I come across 4763 signs (yes I know this is all getting a bit loopy now but please bear with me) and that multiplied by two comes to 9526.
Convert that amount of seconds into minutes and you get 158.
That is two hours and 38 minutes, and given it takes around four hours to drive to the capital that's a dashed lot of time spent looking at and devoting one's concentration to deciphering signs.
This is an outrage.
Especially if you consider the time spent checking the speedometer to ensure you are adhering to the suggested speeds upon the sea of signs.
I've done a few more sums, admittedly in the wake of trying out a couple of pilsners a home-brewing associate has created, and I've worked out that the time actually spent looking at the road during a trip to Wellington is three minutes and 11 seconds.
This is an outrage.
I mentioned this in passing to a chap who has an involvement in the landscape of road safety and his response was quite immediate.
He asked if I had any holiday time due and if so I really should consider using some of it.
Now all this signage sifting was fuelled by coming across a road sign (the painted on the road itself type) a few weeks back.
It was of a large elongated triangle which was pointing away from me and was in the outgoing lane of the parking area I was about to enter.
Figuring that an arrowhead pointed out the direction which should be taken I was slightly bewildered.
Despite being in the opposite lane it sort of indicated that was the direction to go in.
For people correctly using that lane the arrow point was aiming at them... equally unsettling.
So, I don't get that one at all.
Ah well, there goes me licence.
