Archive for June 5th, 2009

Sign nuts: Don’t miss Daniel Pink’s pecha-kuchka presentation on “emotionally intelligent” signage, as referenced in the previous post.

Reader Shasha sends in this great example of merging property rights with some home-made driver beahvior modification. Considered it entered in the new MUTCD — the Manual of Unofficial Traffic Calming Devices.

Shasha’s rationale was as follows:

We live on a small and relatively quiet road. The speed limit on our road should be 40 (curves, narrow, and hills). However, like all county roads in our county, the speed limit is 55. This means that people actually attempt to go 55 or faster.

So, I decided to put up signs on my own land. I figure if they are funny and memorable, people may think and slow down. Or, if nothing else, they will slow down simply to see the signs. This sign (Watch for Flying Monkeys) comes from a picture I took of SuperS who was swinging from a rope in the front of our house. Yes, he appeared like a monkey. I thought it would be perfect. With a little design magic, I created a sign and posted one on each side of the road — as people approach our house / driveway.

I’m not sure it’s emotionally intelligent signage however, as it asks us to have empathy for flying monkeys, a creature few of us have seen.

I’ve often thought it interesting that congestion charging tends to appeal to aspects of both the right (e.g., free-market economists) and the left (e.g., public transportation advocates). You might say that the economists want better roads and less trafic, while the public transport people want more government directed toward their favored mode (and away heavily subsidized roads).

In any case, this left-right alliance was made strikingly clear in the recent response to U.K. transport secretary Geoff Hoon’s recent gloomy comments on the prospect of nation-wide road-user pricing, as the FT notes here.

Stephen Glaister, director of the pro-motoring RAC Foundation, said a system of direct charging for road use was vital to providing the revenue for expanding the road network.

Stephen Joseph, executive director of the pro-public transport Campaign for Better Transport, said a road-pricing system was inevitable if growing congestion on Britain’s roads was to be tackled and demand managed.

It’s hard to immediately think of another issue which unites these disparate groups, if for different end results.