I was driving this morning and I got lost. I took a wrong exit and started going down a street. I knew I was going the wrong way and I was pretty certain I wanted to turn around. As I pulled up to a stop light the sign next to the light clearly told me that I was not allowed to make a U-turn. I’ve probably passed similar signs hundreds or even thousands of times, but this time I stopped and thought about it.
A traffic designer probably realized:
- Drivers might get lost and need to make a U-turn
- Some drivers would want to make the U-turn at this exact location
- A car doing a U-turn at this location could be dangerous or disruptive to traffic
The traffic designer decided that the solution to the problem is a no U-turn sign. But what they didn’t realize is that this doesn’t solve the actual problem. I still want to make the U-turn and the sign is completely useless to my specific desire to turn around.
Imagine a computer parallel:
Now imagine if a couple signs that could have been useful:
- U-turn up ahead
- Exit on right to return to Rt 3
- Please U-turn on side streets only
- Rotary ahead
- U-turn only on green arrow
- Etc. Etc.
Just a friendly reminder to anyone writing error messages and screen text. It’s not what you can’t do it’s how to get it done that counts.
