I don't quite understand why the circles can't be red either. I wonder what the heck private citizens had against them.
Course..then again, I wouldn't be all that sad at black circles....as long as the signs were in km/h!
At 21:32 2003-12-08 -0800, John S. Ward wrote:
John,
What ignorance! First off, the whole point of the red circle is that speed limits PROHIBIT speeds higher than the limit. Duh. So because 8 people out of 300 million completely missed the boat, the U.S. is going to continue to blatantly ignore existing international standards and miss this golden opportunity? So they really think people will actually understand the black circle better than the red circle?
If you add up the cost of the tens (or hundreds) of millions of non-Americans having to learn American road signs, and the millions of Americans travelling abroad having to learn non-U.S. road signs, plus throw in the cost of accidents, getting lost, etc. then you would think that this would be a brilliant opportunity to move a little closer to how much of the rest of the world does things. But no, we are going to blow it again.
Why doesn't anyone realize this?
John
On Monday 08 December 2003 08:02, John Woelflein wrote: > I wrote to FHWA on why they changed the circle around the SI speed limit > from red to black. > > "Ranck, Fred" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Subject: RE: Question on > MUTCD 2003 Version Date: Mon, 8 Dec 2003 09:21:48 -0600 > > John Woelflein: > > > Thank you for your interest in the design of the metric speed limit sign in > the 2003 MUTCD. My name is Fred Ranck and I am a safety/design engineer > with the Federal Highway Administration�s Resource Center in Olympia > Fields, Illinois, and a member of the FHWA�s Manual on Uniform Traffic > Control Device�s team. > > > > FHWA proposed a design for the metric speed limit sign in the Notice of > Federal Rule Making Revision #2 in May of 2002 to make the design for the > metric speed value unique and distinctive from the standard english units > speed limit; this design included a circle around the speed value in red. > > > > In response to the Notice of Proposed Rule Making, FWHA received many > comments, including objections to the use of the color red for the circle > around the speed limit value; based upon the comments to the docket, FHWA > changed the color to black in the final rule in recognition of the comments > to the docket. The information available for this change is as follows > from the final rule: > > > > 34. In Section 2B.13 Speed Limit Sign (R2-1), numbered Section > 2B.11 in the NPA, the FHWA modifies the STANDARD statement to reference the > speed limit signs shown in Figure 2B-1. In the NPA, the FHWA proposed a > new, unique design for the metric speed limit sign. The sign had a red > circle around the speed value with a ``km/h'' legend below, and the > supplemental ``km/h'' plaque removed. The FHWA received eight comments from > the NCUTCD, ATSSA, and private citizens in general support of the new > metric speed limit design, and ten comments from the Oregon and Minnesota > DOTs and private citizens opposed to the sign design. Those opposed cited > concerns that the red circle is generally associated with a prohibitory > regulatory message, and that a speed limit does not fall into that category > of message. In response to the comments, the FHWA revises the sign in this > final rule to include a black circle around the speed value, rather than > red. The concept of placing a circle around the metric speed limit digits > was developed to provide a clear and easily noticed distinction between > metric and English speed limit signs. Because the color red suggests > prohibition, and green is already used as a permissive message with > hazardous materials routing signs, the FHWA requires the black colored > circle to provide distinction for a metric speed limit. Based on this > new design, the FHWA removes the first SUPPORT statement (from the 2000 > MUTCD), as it is no longer needed. The new design of the metric Speed Limit > sign better differentiates a metric speed limit sign from an English-unit > speed limit sign, and also remedies the possible situation where the > ``METRIC'' plaque used in the old design is damaged or stolen and the sign > appears to be an English units Speed Limit sign with a higher but erroneous > value. Other than comments opposed to the change in the metric sign design, > there were no comments specifically regarding this change, and the FHWA > adopts this change. > > > > Fred Ranck > > Safety/Design Engineer/MUTCD Team > > Resource Center � Olympia Fields, IL > > 19900 Governors Drive > > Olympia Fields, IL 60461-1021 > > Telephone #: 708-283-3545 > > Fax #: 708-283-3545 > > E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: John Woelflein [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Thursday, December 04, 2003 5:18 PM > To: FHWA, ExecSecretariat > Subject: Question on MUTCD 2003 Version > > > > > Could you please tell me why, with the new metric speed limit signs, the > red circle around the speed limit number was changed to black? The > red-bordered circle with the number enclosed is an international signing > convention. The color red indicates prohibition in most countries of the > world, and the US has even been using the red circle with diagonal slash to > indicate prohibition for more than 30 years. I don't believe it's a good > idea to use the color black for the circle color on the SI speed limit > signs. Red is an attention-getter, as well. Do not enter, Yield, and many > other signs use the color red. The new metric speed limit signs and > suggested speed limit signs would be better if the color red were used. On > the other hand, if the color black is to be used for regulatory signs, why > not change all of the "no left turn," "do not enter," and all the rest of > the red signs to black as well, to be consistent at least? Please consider > changing the metric speed limit signs back to red, as they were originally > suggested. Thank you. > > John Woelflein > Nashua, NH > > > > > --------------------------------- > Do you Yahoo!? > New Yahoo! Photos - easier uploading and sharing
