Bad signs

There is a serious lack of maintenance to the country’s road signs. An across the board study of the situation taken by AFESP paints a bleak picture. Almost half the nation’s horizontal signs fail to meet minimum “reflective” standards, and can thus pass unseen by drivers.

The investigation, taken in 18 of the country’s districts, also finds 75 per cent of road markings fail to help drivers know where (they’re meant to be) going. And 44.5 per cent of them do not comply with the requirement to guide drivers at night.

Indeed, only 15 per cent of road markings were found to be “almost” up-to-scratch – a situation that will almost certainly change for the worse before the year is up.

“Horizontal signs are not always in evidence, and when they are, they can be of poor quality and thus fail to perform their functions adequately – usually because they’re old and haven’t been maintained”, AFESP general secretary Ana Raposo explains in a communiqué.

According to the association, poor signs prompt one in every five accidents. In other words, accidents could be avoided if signs were in better condition.

For AFESP there are thousands of roads, avenues and streets with both good and bad signs – and “all traffic signs count. Each one makes a difference because you can’t put a price on life”.

“Improvement to road signs and other associated safety devices is a low-cost measure, but it guarantees short-term gains”, Ana Raposo assures.

If one stops to think how many traffic accidents could already have been avoided, for example, by putting signs up in accident black-spots/ dangerous places, perhaps it is time to take this subject seriously?

It’s not always the drivers’ faults – however many nutcases there still are out there behind the wheel.