The purpose of road safety signs is to prevent accidents by providing clear instrustions for drivers and pedestrians to follow, but sadly, the clarity and prominance of the sign does not always lead to the intended outcome. As you will see from our own safety signs, the desired message is always displayed in simple, easy-to-read format, usually using bold prominent colours to attract the attention of the viewer. Sadly, all this effort is irrelevant when people choose to ignore the signs of their own accord, or attempt to challenge the validity of the sign when they are not a safety professional themselves.

While many would say that this is an aspect of safety that is simply beyond our control, a new system in Oxfordshire could soon prove that it is possible to influence the behaviour of careless drivers with the use of safety signs alone. These signs, however, have one distinct difference from your average warning or road safety sign - they have an inbuilt CCTV system! Just as shop owners display signs that warn of CCTV in operation in an attempt to deter shoplifters, these signs were created in the hope that the presence of video evidence would deter drivers from actively ignoring the signs or attempting reckless behaviour. 

Oxfordshire County Council launched this scheme with construction company Skanska, after a series of road rage incidents and injuries during the 18 months prior to its introduction. It was found that workers were being verbally abused while carrying out work, as well as being put in immediate danger of being fatally injured by cars who ignored the signs. Thanks to the new wide-angle automatic recording systems installed in the signs, they will be able to monitor and capture any dangerous or abusive actions, which will not be tolerated.

While the system is currently opereating in specific areas only, it would be interesting to see what impact such a scheme could have, if put into practice across the UK. Could this be the future of road safety signs, or even safety signs in general? Is it possible that the only way to impact an individual's response, is to make them aware that you are monitoring it? 

Let us know what you think about this idea on Twitter and Facebook.

Today marks the beginning of Road Safety Week, a flagship event created by road safety charity Break, which runs from the 23-29 of November. This year's theme is 'Drive less, live more', the aim of which is to help prevent injuries and fatalities on the road, while also causing people to think about their overall car use. 

To give you a better understanding of why this event is so important for health and safety in the UK, here are some facts which were released by break today:

• Five deaths, and 64 serious injuries happen daily on UK roads
• Air pollution is estimated to kill 52,000 people in the UK each year
• In a survey of a 1,000 driving adults, 85% believed we should reduce overall car use
• Road casualties in the UK went up by 4% last year.
• One in three non-cyclists said they would be more willing to cycle their commute if routes were safer

It's clear that driving has a serious impact on the heath and well-being of the UK as a whole, due in part to driving-related pollution and immobility,as well as fatalities and injuries caused by human error. In order to help promote Road Safety Week, Label Source would like to advise all of our customers to use and display the correct road safety signs at all times! Our full range of signs and barriers can be found here.

Remember, accurate and clear road safety signs can reduce the chances of an accident, by warning divers of hazards and speed restrictions! 

To see the full list of statistics published by Brake, click here, or take a look at their interactive resource.

We would also encourage you to share this post on Twitter and Facebook, using the hatshtags #RoadSafetyWeek and #drivelesslivemore  

Most people would agree that safety signs play a critical role in our society. By clearly identifying potential hazards and warning people of danger, signs prevent injuries and fatalities very effectively - it's impossible to calculate how many lives have been saved by health and safety signage.

Still, there is one problem with standard signage that the health and safety industry has yet to properly solve: over-familiarity. We see safety signs practically everywhere we go, and this seems to sharply reduce the impact of those signs.

This issue is most pronounced on our motorways - how often have you ignored or failed to spot a road safety sign whilst driving? - but it's actually present right across the board. From PPE notices on construction sites to the 'Deep Water' and 'Sudden Drop' signs that are still being vandalised throughout the UK, safety signs have become part of the general landscape, and their important information is all too often going unheeded.

So how can this problem be tackled? Many people seem to think that the answer is to use humorous and/or emotive signs that will grab people's attention. One example is the city of Laredo in Texas, USA; the Texas Department of Transportation recently installed a series of comically oversized road signs in the city, complete with such slogans as "Give Us A BRAKE" and "REALLY - STOP MEANS STOP". According to one traffic safety specialist, these 15-foot monstrosities have been erected in the hope that drivers will be encouraged to "be safe", "read the signs", and "focus on the road".

This sort of thing is happening here in Britain, too, although we're taking a slightly different approach:

The sign in the photo above is currently isntalled on a road in Cheshire, and this emotive approach - encouraging motorists to think of the lives they may affect with unsafe driving - is "thought to have led to lower speeds" according to ITV.com

So is it time for novel ideas like these to be implemented everywhere? Perhaps, although it's important to remember that standard safety signs are still very much essential. We at Label Source feel that the best way to use these funny and emotive signs is in conjunction with regular signage; this will ensure that all the essential information is clearly provided even as we attempt to capture imaginations and tug at heartstrings.

See also: French village deploys dark humour to promote road safety

Last year, we published a blog post about the dangers of vandalising safety signs. At the time, these sensless acts were despciably common in Britain, and we regret to announce that little seems to have changed in the intervening months. Here are two shameful stories from this week alone:

Clevedon road safety signs stolen

from the North Somerset Times

Vandals in Clevedon have removed at least seven 30mph speed limit signs, along with multiple child crossing signs, from the town's roads over the last few weeks. The chairman of a local community group stated that it would be a "big job" to check throughout the town and replace the stolen signs, which are necessary to keep motorists driving at safe speeds.

Vandals remove safety signs at Scottish reservoir

from the The Evening Times

Essential safety signs have also been stolen from the site of Balgray reservoir in Glasgow. Reports suggest that signs have been removed, thrown in the reservoir, and even set on fire; a Scottish Water spokesman pointed out that the signs "are there to help save lives" and that "the vandals' actions could put lives at risk".

Photo by Elliott Brown

Last month, we shared the amusing story of Hayward, a town in California that has installed a series of humorous traffic signs ("It's a speed limit, not a suggestion!") in an effort to improve road safety. Well, a village in Eastern France has gone one step further - motorists passing through Bretenières (approximate population: 40) are now being greeted by this slightly morbid notice:

Translation: "There are still children to run over. You can accelerate."

Unsurprisingly, this spectacularly sarcastic approach to road safety has caused its share of controversy. Many angry letters have been written, and this tiny village's outrageous road signs have made the news all over France. So what does Hervé Bruyère, Mayor of Bretenières, have to say in defence of his sardonic signage? Here's an excerpt from The Connexion's report about this story:

Bruyère, who was elected mayor in last year's local elections, said that the signs were a last resort after every other attempt to slow down speeding motorists on a perfectly straight section of road through the centre of the village had failed..."Motorists sometimes drive at between 70kph and 80kph. The village is quiet, but I have seen several near misses," he added.

In short, these signs are an attempt to tackle that same problem with which the city of Hayward was struggling: the standard road signs that we see every day have become 'white noise', and since people no longer take any notice of signs like these...

...local authorities are forced to resort to signs like these...

...to catch the public's eye. As gruesome as that French sign is, we can definitely understand the thinking behind it - you're more likely to pay attention to something funny that you've never seen before than a boring old safety symbol that you've seen thousands of times before!

That being said, standard road signs are still important. We made this point in the Hayward blog post, too, but it bears repeating: funny road signs are a fantastic idea, but they should be used in addition to the normal traffic signs, not instead of them. If you work for your local council and Mayor Bruyère has inspired you to try the sarcastic approach in your town, remember that humour alone is not enough!