Can you see the A4 sign on the right of the window? It’s a ‘No Parking’ sign. It’s black typeface on white A4, stuck on the inside of the window.
I have reproduced it exactly below – the use of upper case and formatting included:
IN THE INTEREST OF ROAD
SAFETY PLEASE REFRAIN
FROM PARKING ON THE ZIG
ZAG PORTIONS OF THE
PEDESTRIAN CROSSING..
THE POLICE WILL
PROSECUTE DRIVERS
IGNORING THIS WARNING
UNDER SECTION 25 (5) OF THE
ROAD TRAFFIC REGULATION
ACT 1984 AND SCHEDULE 2
TO THE ROAD TRAFFIC
OFFENDERS ACT 1988
THIS OFFENCE CARRIES A
PENALTY OF A £60.00 FINE
AND THREE PENALTY
POINTS ON YOUR DRIVING
LICENSE
THANK YOU.
That’s it.
My evaluation of this sign.
Bad points
- You can’t read it from a car – including from one that might be considering parking on the zig zag portion of the crossing.
- It’s very unlikely to stop anyone parking on the zig zag portion of the crossing.
- It’s in upper case which is hard to read.
- Far too much detail.
- One dot too many after PEDESTRIAN CROSSING..
- Use of the ridiculous word REFRAIN.
Good points
- It’s polite. One use of ‘PLEASE’ and one use of ‘THANK YOU’.
Weird. The “zigzag portion of the crossing” is easy to spot and people should know what it means. This sign has been put up in a shop window whose job is not really to repeat the highway code to their customers. I’m wondering if perhaps it is deliberately verbose, to inform only those certain types of person who take the time to read such signs? After all, you read it
I agree about there being no need to repeat the highway code to customers and yes, maybe it is deliberately verbose to only inform certain types. In this case though, the sign attracted a non driver! Still, I did enjoy reading it and taking its picture.
In the UK, I’m sure the usual spelling is ‘licence’ and not as it says. I might be old and pedantic, but I do think literacy is important, otherwise the errors detract from the message.
Why not cut to the chase in big type face? “Please don’t park on the zig zag lines, they are there for a reason.” Job done. Oh, and “Thank you” at the end of course
Much better! I like it.