POWERHOUSE COLLECTION

Notes

This sign is part of the collection borrowed from the Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) in 2001 for display in the exhibition 'Ecologic: creating a sustainable future' . There is a continuum of signage starting with Roman milestones, massive tall columns that showed travellers how far they were from Rome and what direction they should follow. During the Middle Ages street signs became more advanced and many intersections in European countries had signs pointing the way to cities and towns, sometimes including distances. Early in the 20th century, the combination of signs for cyclists, weight restriction signs, and direction signs erected by local authorities meant that there were about 4,000 different signs on British roads. They were not of standard design, there were no regulations to restrict their use, and they were becoming so common that they were ignored by road users! Motorists needed more warning signs, as they could travel much faster than cyclists and horses. In 1903, the Motor Car Act made legislative provision for local authorities to erect their own warning signs. In 1908 the International Road Congress met in Rome to discuss signage on European roads. Out of this meeting came four pictorial signs that were to be displayed noting road conditions. The first four road signs in modern times were the 'bump', 'curve', 'intersection', and 'railroad crossing' signs. These four signs constituted the first European road signage system. The intensive work on international road signs that took place between 1926 and 1949 eventually led to the development of the European road signage system. The United States developed its own road signage system, which was also adopted by several other nations. Beginning in the 1960s, North American signage began adopting international symbols and signs into its system. With increasing speed of transport, the tendency is for countries to adopt pictorial signs or otherwise simplify and standardise signs, to facilitate international travel where language differences can create barriers and in general to reduce the risks in driving. Such pictorial signs use symbols in place of words and are usually a result of international standards. Such signs were first developed in Europe and been adopted by most countries to varying degrees. New generations of traffic signs are based on big electronic displays that can also change their symbols and provide intelligent behaviour by means of sensors or by remote control. These "road beacon systems" are based on the use of RFID transponders buried in the asphalt to allow for on-board signalling and interaction between the car and the road. Yet another way of transferring information ordinarily associated with visible signs is RIAS Remote Infared Audible Signage for print -handicapped (including blind/low-vision/illiterate) people. These are infra-red transmitters serving the same purpose as the usual graphic signs when received by an appropriate device such as a hand-held receiver or one built into a cell phone. References 1p 77, Cass, Terry, Thematic history of Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA), Roads and Traffic Authority, 2006 Further reading Cass, Terry Thematic history of Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA), http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/environment/downloads/heritage/rta_thematic_history.pdf