asked the Minister for Local Government if he will commission KDW to produce a new road sign that will be distinctively in keeping with the national identity and of a structure that will be easily discernible to vehicular traffic.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Informative Road Signs.
13.
Recommendations made by An Foras Forbartha for an improved system of informative signs are at present being examined in my Department. I do not intend to commission further designs on the lines suggested by the Deputy.
Will we have an opportunity of seeing the proposed sign before it is accepted?
I do not think that would be a reasonable suggestion. Deputy Brennan, like myself, is very anxious to have the proper type of road sign. We have had experiments with numerous types of signs over the last few years. At present we are trying to get a sign on which a lot of work was done during the term of office of my predecessor and which I think should be a reasonable one. Road signs in Ireland conform generally to international standards while taking account of national considerations such as the use of Irish on informative signs. I think Deputy Brennan can be assured that I am as anxious as is he to ensure that the correct type of sign is erected.
Generally they are erected too high off the road.
The argument against having them any lower was that they were damaged by vandals. Therefore, which is the better?
There are no more vandals in this country than in any other.
On the Dublin side of Ashbourne experimental signs were erected for some considerable time. Was that part of the testing to which the Minister referred.
Yes, it was.
Is that testing procedure still being followed through?
Conclusions are now being drawn as a result of the testing carried out then and since.
Would the Minister, in his examination, advert to the fact that what is commonly known as the fingerpost sign, which points in the direction on which motorists are usually travelling, is very ineffectual and can frequently be a cause of danger because the motorists either veer over towards it or pause to look at it. In most other countries directional signs face the oncoming traffic and, to my mind, are much safer for that reason.
That may be so but I did not find it to be so. I think, perhaps, I drove further in this country than anybody in the House over a long number of years. I am quite satisfied with the fingerpost sign as it is, provided it is not damaged by vandals and is pointing in the right direction.
Surely it is erected too high to read from a motor vehicle?
Apart from its being too high, would the Minister not agree that a fingerpost sign pointing in the same direction in which a motorist is travelling is quite inconvenient for a motorist to read? If he is looking for the distance or the direction to the next town, it would be much safer and much more efficient if he were facing——
Provided the Irish motorists were not prepared to spend ten seconds slowing up to see in which direction——
Even slowing up could be dangerous.
Could I ask the Minister whether it is a fact that these signs which Deputy Haughey is now requesting are on display on a number of our roads in addition to the finger-posts and that an extension of this dual system would be a great advantage? Further, might I ask the Minister not to delay in any way the adequate signposting, even in its existing form, of the many unsignposted roads throughout the country that badly need an indication of some kind?
Deputy Blaney has re-referred to the need for signposts where there are none at the moment, and I agree with him that this is an important matter. Since Bord Fáilte have stopped supplying the signs, the local authorities do not seem to be so anxious to provide signs.
Question No. 14.
Would the Minister not agree——
I must dissuade the House from debating this matter.
——that the finger signposts are not at all adequate for visiting tourists? The signs here are not anything as clear as they are for road users in other countries. I might refer the Minister particularly to the through signs that one meets going through any of the cities of Europe which will direct you, without any difficulty, from the city to whatever destination you are going. Is the Minister then not concerned that our signs are not at all adequate for the many tourists we hope to attract, and if he is, what is he doing about it?
I wanted to avoid saying something which I am accused of saying all the time. The signs did not become bad or grow higher over the last two years. However, I agree with Deputy O'Kennedy that signs are not adequate and I shall have an improvement made in these through signs in cities and towns.
We are spending a long time on this question. A final supplementary from Deputy Brennan.
Would the Minister not agree that the present signs were designed for the old jaunting car days and that proper directional signs should be erected in advance of junctions?
I did not see any jaunting cars in early 1973 unless a few around Killarney.
That cynical, arrogant reply is not conducive to a good Question Time or to expedition in getting through questions.
He was not 16 years there.