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Too Many Roadsigns

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  • 02-07-2014 11:40am
    #1
    Thargor
    Registered Users Posts: 17,938 ✭✭✭✭


    Ever since The Wild Atlantic Way was put in motion (good idea and no objections from me btw), the council has lost its mind with roadsigns, both the placename kind, the Wild Atlantic squiggle kind (one every 100m for the whole route even when you're miles from the Atlantic) and the massive distance to random towns that dont make any sense kind of ones (distance to Ennis and Limerick when you're in Oranmore kind of thing).

    Its all added up to distracting clutter, I drove from Salthill to the Cliffs of Moher last weekend with friends and they have basically ruined one of the nicest drives in the country with signs, its worse than littering or one-off housing. The castle in Kinvara had to be the best example and Im kicking myself for not getting a pic, 2 massive "DUNGUAIRE CASTLE" roadsigns and a load of others directly in front of it ruining the view as you come round the corner so tourists have cross the road to lean in over the wall to get a proper pic.

    Every T-Junction and cross roads covered in massive signs for every little parish and township up each road even if they're 50 km away.

    We live in the age of GPS and google Maps now, decluttering the roads to promote the unspoiled landscape is the way it should be going and instead we have this mess, also a lot of the spellings of the names on the signs have been butchered so they're useless anyway, what were they thinking? Leave potholes the size of a small car everywhere along the road and instead increase the amount of signs X50? It must have cost a fortune...


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    #2
    Mrs OBumble
    Registered Users Posts: 25,959 ✭✭✭✭Mrs OBumble


    I drove out to Connemara recently, and really noticed how many more direction signs and distance signs there are. A big improvement, IMHO. Far more tourist friendly.


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    #3
    ScumLord
    Registered Users Posts: 28,789 ✭✭✭✭ScumLord


    It's about time they did something about road signs, the can be completely unreliable and sometimes I wonder how tourists manage. There have been times where I've been somewhere I don't know following signs for a town and at some stage you'll come to a junction and they've stopped displaying the town you've been following all along. That's if there's a signpost at all. Bottom line is you have to guess which way you should go. I've seen signposts that send you in roundabout ways only to end up 50 metres up the road from where the sign told you to turn off. Signs that as you get closer to the town they say you're getting further away.

    Many signs are little better than litter at the side of the road.


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    #4
    Thargor
    Registered Users Posts: 17,938 ✭✭✭✭Thargor


    Most tourists have a GPS unit, whether a phone or a Garmin or whatever these days, thats my point, they didnt need to wreck the place the way they have done, and Im not exaggerating there, they have done massive visual pollution damage to some of the nicest driving roads in the west, someone in another thread said they could get rid of half them and it would still be too cluttered and I totally agree.


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    #5
    ScumLord
    Registered Users Posts: 28,789 ✭✭✭✭ScumLord


    Thargor wrote: »
    Most tourists have a GPS unit, whether a phone or a Garmin or whatever these days, thats my point,
    I have too but they can be unreliable on Irish roads too, plus if your battery goes you're completely lost. Mine is constantly going by the most direct route which means it uses backroads half the time.


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    #6
    dec25532
    Registered Users Posts: 809 ✭✭✭dec25532


    I have gps in the car and on the mobile but would prefer to follow signs when going to places in Ireland that I have not been before. We need signs and need them pointing in the right direction. It is part of the adventure when we are on hols.


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    #7
    ScumLord
    Registered Users Posts: 28,789 ✭✭✭✭ScumLord


    dec25532 wrote: »
    It is part of the adventure when we are on hols.
    Maybe the tourists like getting lost, it's amazing how lost you can get in this country while being so close to your destination. It wouldn't surprise me if Ireland has more roads per square mile than any other country in the world.


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    #8
    SpaceTime
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,088 ✭✭✭SpaceTime


    If there's one thing Ireland definitely does not have a problem with too many of it's road signs!

    They're very, very, very necessary!

    Every tourist blog you read about Ireland talks about how the road signs are 'quirky' or 'non-existent' from what I can see and how they're completely inconsistent in places.

    The last thing we need is a campaign to remove road signage!


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    #9
    Mrs OBumble
    Registered Users Posts: 25,959 ✭✭✭✭Mrs OBumble


    Thargor wrote: »
    Most tourists have a GPS unit, whether a phone or a Garmin or whatever these days, thats my point, they didnt need to wreck the place the way they have done, and Im not exaggerating there, they have done massive visual pollution damage to some of the nicest driving roads in the west, someone in another thread said they could get rid of half them and it would still be too cluttered and I totally agree.

    I have Maps+ on my phone - but when I'm driving, I'm not exactly supposed to be looking at the phone! And Mr O'B simply finds it too difficult to read off the screen.


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