Mistakes

It's not easy to design a road sign. There are whole books of official guidance on the subject. You have to know a wealth of information to get the right colours, designs, layouts, spacing of text, kerning, tracking and weighting of letters. You need to make sure the radius of curves is correct when compared to the stroke width and letter height. You need to be able to work out when patches are needed and when you're allowed to use a flag or a stack-type sign.

Most of the time the resulting sign is correct, and when British road signs are made properly, they can be great pieces of graphic design work.

Unfortunately it doesn't always go right — whether it's bad design or just a lack of proof reading. Sometimes it's the right sign in the wrong place. This gallery documents some truly terrible mistakes on road signs past and present.

Routes

What's new

London’s other forgotten motorways

We’ve spent years documenting the unbuilt urban motorway network planned for London. Today we’re unveiling more new routes that have never been seen before!

The middle of nowhere

A national system of road numbers radiating from a central point suggests there is… well, a central point. But if you go looking for it you’ll find it doesn’t exist.

Not so Smart

There have been rumours for months. Now the announcement has been made - “all new Smart Motorways scrapped”. What does this mean and who are the winners?

Share this page

Have you seen...

Thelwall Viaduct

Thousands of vehicles travel the M6 between the M56 and M62 each day. They all cross the River Mersey and the Manchester Ship Canal, and the bridge that carries them is notorious from travel reports nationwide. But what does it actually look like from the ground?

About this page

Published

Last updated