Observations by Jonar Nader » Poles apart

Sign of the times

Jonar Nader — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 17:10:33 +0000

What are we supposed to do about a sign that tells us that a crane is working overhead? Are we supposed to move away? If so, why not barricade the area or construct a pedestrian detour? Are we supposed to look up and cross when we feel that it is safe to do so? Or is it a legal requirement so that if we happen to be flattened by a plummeting boulder, we can’t sue? I’d prefer more explicit instructions, such as, ‘Do not come within spray-painting distance of this sign, lest something fall on you, and it’s lights out!’

Accuracy is important. I learned this while publishing a novel called ‘Z’. Within its 100,000 words are references to medical, scientific, military, nuclear, nautical, electronic, political, biological, and technical activities. There are readers out there who don’t care how you phrase a sentence. Yet there are readers who will argue the point based on physics, practicality, and possibility. They will calculate every possible angle to prove the author wrong. For this reason, ‘Z’ took two years longer to publish while I checked thousands of facts with every possible expert. I had to speak with a bugging expert at an intelligence agency to determine if my listening devices in the room could pick-up the conversation in which my characters were engaging. I had to speaking with a ballistics expert and a marksman and a sniper to work out how many rounds can be fired using that weapon in that situation from that angle. Every detail in this work of fiction, had to be factual. With this in mind, and now that I have been well and truly initiated into the world of fiction, please forgive me for noticing this sign below. No-one who has any grasp of geography, coupled with geometry, could cope with the arrows that suggest that Rome goes hither and Paris goes thither. If you plot those angles, and take London to be the bearing, that would put Rome in Russia and Paris in Sydney.

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Sign of madness

Sign on the dotted line

Sign of madness

Jonar Nader — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 16:30:00 +0000

It’s hard to believe that anyone could not care about their job to such a degree that they would be a party to stupid decisions. Sadly, I not only believe it, I also expect it. This is what you get when the ‘them and us’ syndrome kicks in. Each is paid to do a job, and that’s the limit of any intellectual engagement. Here is a gallery of trophies of madness. In the photo below, I wonder which came first, the large power pole, or the new 50 sign? Is this a case of following instructions to the letter. Did the town engineer stipulate that the speed sign must be positioned 32.2837 cm from the edge of the street. Wow, just as well it was not 32.2838, or that power pole might have been knocked down. The inset photo shows what a driver would see. I am sure that would make for a good defence if anyone is caught speeding. Mind you, in Sydney, no matter what the courts rule, the RTA (Roads and Traffic Authority) will not budge on points lost. It seems that the RTA is above the courts. That is for another day and another story of sheer madness.

Here we see a sign, obscured by a larger sign. Is this a case of bullying? Does size denote priority?

Why must a cyclist or a motorist be told, in five meter intervals, that they are in the presence of a bicycle lane? And why can’t the signs be attached to existing poles?

These signs could not be shared for some reason or other. That leaves a gap in the middle. Is this no-mans’ land?

Below we see a series of signs that have encroached on a walkway to form an arch. This is the Kings Cross area, a place notorious for drunken behaviour. Someone is bound to hurt themselves. Will we soon need a sign to say, ‘Beware of signs’?

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Sign of the times

Sign on the dotted line

Sign on the dotted line

Jonar Nader — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 16:14:05 +0000

The photo above shows a poll on which I have placed a red dot, to draw your attention to the pole that could have been used for the sign. Alas, there was a good reason why we have to endure two poles when one would have sufficed.

Below is the answer. The pole on which I placed the red dot is a private pole. The sign says so. I wonder why it is there, and what led its owners to protest thus? There’s a story behind every moment of madness. Hang on, the red sign warns of private property. Does the pole not belong to the same private owners. So why could they not give themselves permission? Is this a case of the left hand now allowing the right hand…?

Let us take a look at my collection of photos of signs that seem to have been erected in the wrong place, perhaps due to contracts, laws, regulations, policies, fine print, and bureaucracy. Perhaps it would have been way too complicated to seek permission. So it transpired that it was easier to do it the hard way, than the harder way. Or it it a case that a few inches makes all the difference?

In this category, below is my favourite. I wonder who placed the binding clip around both poles. Did the large pole owner give permission, or was it the other way around, or did both parties sign on the dotted line and come to a mutual consent?

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Sign me up

Jonar Nader — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 16:01:18 +0000

This entry looks at signs that have been retired. They instruction that they once carried has been removed, but they remain as a memory of a time when they had some authority. Now, no-one wants them. I guess it was justified that their removal would cost money, and so it was cheaper to leave them there.

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Sign of the times

Sign of madness

Sign on the dotted line

Sign language

Jonar Nader — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 15:27:29 +0000

Presumably, someone goes to the trouble of erecting a sign because it might be of use to the public. However, what’s the point of it if another department comes along and obscures the earlier message? Take a look at the sign above and see if you can guess what the obscured blue sign is trying to say.

Here is another kind of sign that does not consider the user. It says that parking is three hours between 7 and 9, but it is difficult to see if that is AM or PM. How hard would it have been to increase the point size?

When driving along Transit lanes and Bus Lanes, I find it frustrating to read whether or not a sign is for AM or PM. It keeps changing from suburb to suburb, and depending on which side of the road one is on. It’s bad enough trying to watch out for traffic, and to drive carefully, but why are some signs so high up that it breaks the neck to read them, and why do they use small point sizes for the AM and PM. While travelling at the speed of the traffic flow, it become impossible to work it out, especially of the sun is in one’s eyes, or if it is night time. Here are are two examples. The one on the right is better, and could be made clearer if there were spaces between the numbers and the AM or PM.

It’s also interesting that the words ‘Begins’ and ‘Ends’ are written, where as the word ‘Bus’ is replaced with a drawing of a bus. Yes, universal symbols are helpful, but if someone cannot read the word ‘bus’, they are unlikely to understand what the word ‘begins’ means.

Here is a sign at a shopping centre. It says, ‘A person shall not cause a vehicle to stand or wait other than in a defined parking space or in a parking space in which another vehicle is standing or waiting…’. This is completely erroneous. In plain English, this instruction (a by-law really) is saying, ‘You can only park in marked spaces or in a space where there is a car already parked…’ So the Council seems to approve of two cars on top of each other.

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Sign of the times

Sign of madness

Sign on the dotted line

Sign of intelligence

Jonar Nader — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 15:12:11 +0000

It is rare to see good decisions being made about signs in cities. Here is a collection of signs where great effort was made to maximise the investment and the resources. Well done.

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Sign of the times

Sign of madness

Sign on the dotted line

Sign of co-operation

Jonar Nader — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 14:49:17 +0000

In ‘Fawlty Towers’, Sybil says to her husband Basil, ‘The day you co-operate, you’ll be in a wooden box’. One wonders why councils, along with the department of main roads, and landlords, can’t co-operate in an effort to rid a city of its ugly poles and signs. The photo above is an example of good co-operation between the parties. Sharing a wall seems to be the decent thing to do. Whereas below, we see two examples of a change of heart, after a good start. Signs on the wall could not be maintained, and soon, poles were littering the street once more.

Below we see signs of sour grapes. How difficult would it have been to share the larger post? Is it etched in concrete that light posts cannot, under penalty of death, have any signs on them. Is this an electrical technical matter?

We try to save every drop of water, yet the decision makers behind this type of jealousy do not seem to appreciate that there are many other resources that we ought to be conserving.

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Sign of the times

Sign of madness

Sign on the dotted line

Sign from above

Jonar Nader — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 14:21:43 +0000

In Auckland, the council is smart enough to work out a way to install street signs above the traffic lights. This saves a lot of space and unsightly poles. Below, we see that Melbourne uses the same clever strategy.

Once upon a time, Sydney used to hang street signs from above, as seen below. Awnings were used. These signs still exist, but they are rare and no longer the modus operandi for Sydney City Council.

Here is a clever bracket that makes much more sense than sticking a poll into the ground. The city has enough pollution to worry about.

Below, a bracket is used, but we see that sometimes, if it is not necessary, a bracket can be avoided.

Below we see two signs that could have been hung from above. No doubt it is much quicker for a council to drill and hole into the ground, than to go through the red tape of having to seek permission from the owner of the building.

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Sign of the times

Sign of madness

Sign on the dotted line

Jonar Nader — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:49:34 +0000

My local council tells me that it costs $160 to install a street sign. That does not seem like much at first, but when you observe how many poles we have in any street or along main roads, you will see that not only are we spending a lot of money, but also polluting the landscape. Are all those signs really necessary? In the same way that I thoroughly enjoy beautiful trees and flowers, I am disturbed by metal growing out of the ground. Here is a collection of photos to get you started.

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Sign of the times

Sign of madness

Sign on the dotted line