We can have fun with signs and inform people too.
Last month, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration released a publication that’s bound to be a bestseller: the 11th edition of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Streets and Highways — the MUTCD. It’s 1,161 pages of minute detail about street markings and directional arrows. For instance: “The width across the arrowhead for the Types A, B, and C directional arrows should be between 1.5 and 1.75 times the height of the upper-case letters of the principal legend on the sign.”
A real page-turner. December’s release addresses an issue never tackled by the manual before. Squeezed in among the roundabout plot twists and traffic light cliffhangers is a recommendation that state highway agencies cut it out with the humor already.
