How long until roadworks contractors complain that they're not perpetually standing with a spade dug into a pile of earth?

My bike certainly doesn't look like the one on the road signs, either.

The point isn't to accurately illustrate something, it's to quickly warn of it.

And here was me thinking that all people with disabilitys were in wheel chairs.

Have these people got nothing better to do?

There I was thinking the old lady was goosing the old gent!

A silhouette of a man with a flexed posture, waving a cane in the air, with the lettering, "I don't believe it!" underneath?

This is shocking.

I fully sympathise with the elderly on this one. May I suggest similarly-offended readers consider a letter-writing campaign, possibly co-ordinated via the People's Friend, or perhaps the Sunday Post ?

Tin of Werther's Originals and a Big Slipper to the most eloquent !

Sign shows a old lady picking the pocket of a blind man to me, bottom line do we also get signs warning of signs ahead or indeed gaggles of children.

Seen some great ones in my time though a quick google and get a fine example of a sign causing what its meant to avoid:

http://robertstevenson.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/silly-sign-22.jpg

These are the same people who would complain in a young lad in a hot hatch buzzed them when they crossed the road.....

The sign helps people realise there are old fogeys, or coffindodgers that may be slower at crossing the road. Maybe we should use these two phrases to appease them....

The Highway Code lists that sign as "Frail Pedestrians likely to cross", not "Beware, militant old gits"

Its not about speed, it about alerting drivers to possible hazards (you'd never believe the damage a Zimmer frame can do)

I'm waiting for militant foxes and badgers to complain that the "Wild Animals" warning sign discriminates against them because it depicts a deer.

and you're walking upright without aids at full walking speed, what does it matter your age is? Drivers don't have to "watch for fast-walking pensioners" so all they need is a sign saying "watch out for slow-walking pensioners" who may exist.

Or do the fully able pensioners want the less able segregated off to a safe area where their disability will not be associated with them?

So, will the 'roadworks' sign - featuring a bloke with a shovel in a pile of Tarmac(R) now be altered to show a range of activities related to the construction industry in general? Because it's SUCH a stereotypical representation of what they do, it really is misleading*.

It's just supposed to be an icon, a symbol, an easily recognisable sign. Not a full graphical representation of the actual subject!

What do they want? Full-colour photos of genuine local pensioners? Will rural areas have the various 'animal-in-road' signs replaced by photos of the specific local breeds, posing in the road?

Bah.

*Not least because it suggests they spend time working.

in chamberpot.

Clearly Ms. McLennan has way too much free time on her hands, and should, as pointed out, be concentrating on something important to the 'elderly', rather than trying to grab a few cheap, middle-page column inches, as this is just not headline news.

...The "children crossing" sign could act as a beacon to garry glitter types who would congregate near the signs looking to "help" children across the road.

...And why are the people on warning roadsigns always black.....totally racist....i will be righting to a token black MP about this shocking oversight.

I'm surprised the 'learning difficulties' lobby haven't yet objected to the sign local to me that reads "Slow children ahead".

...there's no need for a sign for the elderly who are fit and well.

OTOH how do depict the smell of peppermints and wee-wee...

Mine's the trebor mints and incontinence pants.

Is this sign stereotyping? Yes. Do people recognize what the stereotype is fro the image? Yes. Do people know full well that not all elderly people are anything like what this stereotypical image depicts? Yes. The problem then? Daily Mail readers who are sick of the ethnic minorities pulling this one all the time and now they want their turn: translate into: morons who have too much time on their hands and are not putting it to good use.

Warning: common sense strikes again.

I would like to complain about the 'school ahead' sign depicting two running children, it is encouraging our nation's youth to run in the road, which is dangerous.

Also, the speed limit signs in miles per hour are discriminating against those of us modern and educated enough to be thinking in kilometres per hour; how can we be expected to stick to a speed limit which requires thirty seconds of mental calculation?

Likewise, I do not like the discriminatory nature of driving laws. Under 17s have a right to use our roads like the rest of us; and the disabled. I think it's just plain wrong that a man born blind, who has no choice in the matter, is not allowed to drive a 20 tonne truck around the M25.

Finally, the 'left turn ahead' sign is belittling those of us with erectile disfunction.

Can I suggest we take all people over the age of seventy and burn them in a huge pyre? We can use the resulting energy to power the country for a while, our energy requirements will fall dramatically (old people use more heating - so Age Concern tell us) resulting in a huge drop in the price of fuel.

Our taxes can be more than halved as we stop paying for their pensions, nursing care, winter fuel allowances, NHS costs etc etc. We will free up babdly needed housing stock for first-time buyers currently priced out of the market. Supermarket queues will move twice as fast.

It's a win, win, win, win solution. There really is no need for us to listen to their shite any more.

They lived through a period of extra-ordinarily low housing and fuel costs and have come out of it with zero provisions for their own retirement - instead choosing to sponge off the current generation who are already hard pressed by massive housing costs, at least in part caused by them!

Improve Britain. Burn a Granny!

Sometimes I wonder if these people actually believe half the rubbish that comes out of their mouths.

Personally I think that pensioners have better things to worry about, like what todays Bingo numbers are.

Then why arn't they working like he rest of us?

Either get a walking stick and a hunch, or get back to work you lazy bastards!!1

The signs that say "Use both lanes" don't actually mean that. Unless you're in a Hummer, of course.

.. and take its tablets. The sign means that infirm people may be about. I SAID INFIRM PEOPLE MAY BE ABOUT. It doesn't mean that all old people are infirm. Those in good health don't need any special consideration.

If you want to see a daft sign, have a look at the tram sign and work out where the tops of the wheels are.

I think my town needs one that accurately conveys the message "Teenage girl with impossibly-tight-ponytail and pushchair laden with Greggs-scoffing offspring likely to lurch outwards in front of car in a desperate attempt to get a) into primark b) some compo c) across the street to smack that slapper Kerry coz she was looking at me well funny.

Mines the one with peaked cap and jackboots next to it.

This is incredibly old news. Over 5 years ago the elderly started moaning about this. There's even an old folks home which has a selection of stupid signs including an OAP with a walking stick on a skateboard.

Sadly any hope for me finding the original story has been lost to the recent re-issuing of this tired old thing.

I hope it enjoyed it's day out. Time for it to go back to the home, I think.

All these elderly bashers, have they forgotten that were it not for the elderly who fought (and died) for us to keep Britain afloat we would be a different and a lot worse nation now?

I for one am happy to pay my taxes in honour and recognition of what our elder members of society sacrificed in order to make a future for us.

Stop discriminating against certain 'groups' Remove all the signs!

As for the roadworks sign, isn't it supposed to be a man erecting a parasol. Perfect for our British labourers....

"Will rural areas have the various 'animal-in-road' signs replaced by photos of the specific local breeds, posing in the road?"

Hah! Giggled a little at the thought of some gerbil or similar critter on its hind legs in the road with it's little paws up and it's mouth wide open in shock. Looking like when someone lampoons the "being run over by a bus" stance.

Now THERE'S a road traffic icon I could admire!

PS Erectile dysfunction? Mine only gets down to a right angle when I'm "ready" if I weigh the little bastard down with a towel!

PH is wondering...

So where in a town are there NOT likely to be people that may cross a road slower than others?

More crossings and more care from drivers please. I hear a 20mph train thundering down the road safety track!

That'll be great wont it. Then we can do 20mph 24hrs a day like we already do in some areas, for schools that are...

(a) Empty through holidays (25% of year).

(b) Empty coz it's night time

(c) Not spewing kids onto the road coz they are hard at work inside!

Be honest drivers. How many times have you seen a pedestrian waiting to cross a road, in the rain, while you trickle along in slow traffic that would cost you nothing to halt for a short while. You never know, it may even lighten your mood as someone thanks you.

"How long until roadworks contractors complain that they're not perpetually standing with a spade dug into a pile of earth?"

Is that what he's doing? I though he was opening an umbrella.

This reminds me of the fuss created by the brown Tourist Destination signs when they were introduced. Places like Marwell got uptight because they didn't have any elephants.

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2002/20023113.htm#sch14

There are some pretty niche attractions that get their own sign. How many tram museums are there, for example?

(Question rhetorical. Please don't go find out.)

for PM!

Old and wrinkly is what the future holds for you.

Hold that thought and enjoy.

I always wonder about the sign "slow Police" - personally I wouldn't comment

PH - would rather they change it to full size photo sans clothes :p

We need a sign with the silhouette of a person on one of those mobility scooters, preferably while waving a cane in the air.

Here in the States, stretches of road that are likely to have farmers driving tractors are identified by a man driving a tractor... wearing a straw hat... which I doubt many farmers wear these days. Normally that wouldn't annoy me, except that it seems like the obvious alternative would be to just have a sign with the silhouette of a tractor - I think that would get the point across... :\

It's not the ones that died for us that bother me. It's the ones who survived and won't stop moaning about what a shit-hole the country has become that piss me off. Apparantly, it's all down to the teenagers, who've only been in the country less than twenty years and have no power to change anything.

Certainly it can't possibly be their fault, what with them having lived here for eighty years and having voted for government after government....