Do you remember the 1971 song by The Five Man Electrical Band, “Signs, Signs, Everywhere a Sign, … Do this, Don’t do that, can’t you see the Sign?”
Don’t You See the Signs?
By William Bezanson
I loved that song back then, and I recently had occasion to sing it in my head when confronted by some confusing traffic signs near my home. I am proud that the band was Canadian, but embarrassed by the modern jumble of traffic signs that are confusing, at least in Canada.
While I was driving along the main highway that divides my city, Ottawa, into North and South sections, an intersection approached. And an incredible mixture of signs overwhelmed me. A set of signs identified the intersecting roads. Another sign posted the speed limit. Another cautioned me to slow down for my exit from the highway.
Still another specified the winter snowplowing hours. Some signs were in English only, while others were in both English and French, the two official languages in Canada. Some signs were posted on poles on the side of the highway; others were attached to an overhead bridge that passed over the highway.
Signs Along the Way
Some signs had a green background, others yellow, still others white. Some signs had a qualification “Municipal” in their text, such as “Municipal speed limits in effect after dark”, requiring high-speed drivers to risk pondering whether they were in a municipality or a rural location, or whether it was dark enough yet.
One amazingly confusing intersection in Ottawa has four different jurisdictions competing for signs. That intersection exists in a municipal neighborhood, and also in a provincial region, and also in a federal region, and finally in a local suburb. Each of those regions followed different rules for color schemes, fonts for words, overall shapes, English/French verbiage with some contradictions and subtle variations. It was as if two or three sign-designing teams and construction crews worked concurrently, but without liaison, such that the day-shift crew erected the sign poles, while the night-shift crew installed the signs, quite independently of each other.
Guiding Our Journey with Purpose
My city has some quaint conventions, perhaps originating historically from different backgrounds. One very long road, for no obvious reason, changes its name three times, from Montreal Road in the far easterly part of Ottawa, to Rideau Street in a suburb, to Wellington Street in the heart of downtown, and finally to Richmond Road in the far west. Each of those regions seems to have its own unique rules for signage.
So, what does this embarrassing collection of unplanned irregularity in the street signage of my home city mean for us enlightened readers of OMTimes, whose consciousness should be raised somewhat higher than mundane matters of street sign designing? This situation reminds me of the old adage of roadways being built on top of the random pathways that cows trudge along when they come back to the barn each evening.
I think that this, and other such inanities, are presented to us to remind us to take a higher road, perhaps “The Road Less Travelled”. We were likely drawn initially to OMTimes by its high-minded, consciousness-raising culture, or its beautiful designs of inspiring artwork, or its challenging, life-enhancing articles. But now that we are elevated somewhat, we have a responsibility to be leaders in society to a lifestyle of higher values.
Trusting the Path Ahead
My advocacy of more rationality in traffic sign designs stems from my lifelong annoyance of observing society behaving like the cows coming home, rather than the top-of-heap, evolved, intelligent folk who should know better.
And, of course, traffic sign stupidities are merely a low-level symbol for much higher-level atrocities such as testing rather than proving correctness in product designs, trusting hand calculators rather than skeptically questioning literally every calculation, following sheep-like the crowd rather than boldly leading the way, playing rather than working, and other such time-wasting pastimes of laziness.
Life Provides Signs
A final example may be instructive. It is widely known that the spiritual law of Reincarnation causes every one of us humans to be reborn into human form approximately every 144 years. However, most of us stubbornly ignore that law and fritter away our lives irresponsibly, as if there are no consequences to our actions. When are we going to learn to act maturely? Are we foolishly following the wrong signs, or perhaps misinterpreting them?
Yes, we lucky folk have a responsibility to assist others in our society to see a bigger picture, to follow our intuitions, and to acknowledge our inner life to be as important as our outer life, or perhaps even more important.
Incidentally, a sign can be contrasted with a symbol. As explained in Jungian psychology, a symbol can have a different meaning for everyone, depending on their life experiences. But a sign must be designed to have the same meaning for everyone. My guess is that the modern, undisciplined design and usage of a myriad of signs will cause so many accidents that we will need to revise and reset our understanding of signs in order to help humankind survive and thrive. And OMTimes readers, especially, have a sober responsibility to advocate for a rational protocol for public signs.
What’s the matter? Can’t you see the sign?
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About the Author
As a retired engineer, William Bezanson has fulfilled his passion for writing, publishing six books on world stewardship, user performance-centered systems design, and mathematical beauty. He is a long-standing member of a Rosicrucian Order and two related initiatic, mystical orders. His mission in life is to help bring about a Spiritual State in this Mundane World. William’s writings focus on large-scale topics such as cosmology, esoteric Christianity, the Jungian worldview, mystical spirituality, and related subjects.
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