Skip to main content

No punctuation

Local authorities in various parts of the UK are opting to remove punctuation marks from roadsigns so as to remove confusion. The move comes in the wake of numerous complaints from concerned members of the public that roadsigns contain incorrect grammar. The authorities in the UK's second largest city, Birmingham, have already taken steps to remove apostrophes from roadsigns because council staff spend too much time dealing with complaints over the correct use of punctuation on signs. The Apostrophe Protect
July 6, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
Local authorities in various parts of the UK are opting to remove punctuation marks from roadsigns so as to remove confusion. The move comes in the wake of numerous complaints from concerned members of the public that roadsigns contain incorrect grammar. The authorities in the UK's second largest city, Birmingham, have already taken steps to remove apostrophes from roadsigns because council staff spend too much time dealing with complaints over the correct use of punctuation on signs. The Apostrophe Protection Society has criticised the move while the Plain English Campaign has refuted suggestions from some official sources that it ruled in favour of the removal of apostrophes from roadsigns. Road safety campaigners are not thought to be prioritising the risks posed by vehicle occupants arguing over the correct use of an apostrophe and whether or not a word is possessive or an abbreviation as a threat to other road users.

Related Content

  • Vivacity’s AI-controlled junctions
    April 6, 2021
    Manchester is using AI-controlled traffic junctions from Vivacity to smooth the interaction between vehicles and the UK city’s increasing number of cyclists and pedestrians.
  • Efficient asset management delivers
    April 25, 2013
    Maximising the economic benefit of infrastructure assets can be achieved through delivering better quality maintenance. Increasing utilisation of infrastructure follows on from those assets being in better condition. Clearly by tracking infrastructure condition closely, huge gains can be made in addressing technical issues before they become more serious and more costly, as well as minimising disruption. In UK city Birmingham, high resolution aerial photography from Bluesky is helping the city council under
  • Driver distraction dangers in focus
    April 30, 2024
    Driver distraction dangers are in focus in the US.
  • Our connected and automated future to go under the microscope at RA – IRF Sydney Conference
    May 10, 2018
    As industry and governments around the world continue to grapple with the challenges of vehicle automation, experts will gather in Sydney at the end of May to take stock of progress on the global journey to a new era of mobility. The two-day 2018 Roads Australia (RA) – IRF Regional Conference for Asia and Australasia, to be held over May 31st and June 1st, marks only the second time the two organisations have co-hosted an international event ‘down under’. And with RA playing a key role in helping inform t