Around here, painted notices on the road warning of an upcoming stop sign usually read …
AHEAD
STOP
I think it’s assumed that a driver will read the word that’s closest to them first, and thus read “STOP” before “AHEAD”. I never do that, though; instead, I see b oth words at the same time, so to my eyes it registers as “AHEAD STOP”. Am I in the minority in reading such pavement markings that way? Do most drivers really instinctively read pavement markings from bottom to top?
I’ve seen those signs, and I agree it’s stoopid. If I look ahead on the road and see words painted there, I’ll be reading from top (farthest away from me) to bottom (nearest), same as I do in every other context.
Those started appearing around Spain years ago. I still have to meet a single person who reads them bottom-up.
The ones saying GOZA ZARA (which are close to Zaragoza, a large town which acts as the local supermall for people in a large area) can literally be translated as “enjoy Zara.” Talk about the pun writing itself… (warning, noisy link)
I’ve always thought that “Stop Ahead” worked OK backwards. The most important word is “Stop” so if you read that first, you’ve got the gist of the warning.
On the other hand, they could draw a red octagonal stop sign sign with the word Ahead right next to it. It would save a bunch of paint, fit on one line and be easier to read.
I actually saw a paper that somebody in a psych department (at MSU in Bozeman, MT) did on this topic. It seemed to have been a well-designed study, and she concluded that signs painted on the road surface in this “backwards” fashion were indeed perceived more readily. She had gotten permission to close off a local road, paint signs on it both ways, and test drivers.
This is exactly the same as American ambulances having “Ambulance” written in reverse.
Look, guys, we can understand the word “Ambulance” when it appears in our mirror, even when reversed. It’s a fairly distinctive word, particularly when painted on the front of an ambulance. We get it.
Anyone who can’t read the word “Ambulance” in reverse probably can’t read it in its proper orientation, either.
Alessan, I was told a long time ago by a EMT that they painted it backwards so that dyslexic people reading it in a mirror would be able to read it better…
But I would think that the big red cross and horn and flashing headlights would be a dead giveaway… :smack:
I always figured it was for night-time purposes. You might only see one word at first in the headlights, and STOP is much more important than AHEAD. Gives you an extra bit of time to react.
Nearly all these signs are painted so that you see all the words at the same time, so it doesn’t work. The problem is that they should paint them bigger and farther apart, so you see the first word much sooner, and you see them one word at a time (like a Burma Shave ad :))
I’ve noticed them, too. There are quite a few on the toll road on the way to my parents house in Illinois. I always read them from top down, unless I’m in bumper to bumper traffic and can only SEE one word at a time.