Signs Of the Times, Indeed

I cannot begin to tell you why Metro Manila roadsigns have always been a pet peeve of mine.

Most recently, it's the growing number of text-heavy traffic signage that irks me. A No U-Turn sign with a "No U-Turn" text under it - some hot pink, some green, some the standard red-and-white. Really tiny reminder notices on the color coding scheme only (barely) visible to vehicles on EDSA's leftmost lane. A sign saying "Don't change lanes/overtake on yellow solid lines, cross on broken lines only."* Errrr, shouldn't all drivers know that before they got licenses? I've learned that when I was 8, back when the LTO road manual was in my bathroom reading fare. (I wonder if they still have these things now.)

If those weren't enough, nowadays new Tagalog signages have been put up. That's great, except these are only for selected signs. And what about drivers who can only read other dialects? The reason why the traditional traffic signs were developed was for these signs to be language neutral and instantly recognizable - not pose as a safety hazard while you are trying to figure out what they're saying. And they aren't short texts, either. Most of those I've seen are at least 2 lines long, and do not even come in standard phrasing when appearing in different sites. Obviously I didn't catch all of these "messages"' 'cause I had to keep an eye on the road (and new billboards I will probably have something to say about, too).

But this one, I think, hits an all-time low. Sighted today along Northbound EDSA (near Cubao area):

"Gumitna lang po ang private
vehicles sa lane. Huwag gumitgit,
makakarating din kayo sa pupuntahan."**

Whoa. That's not even in the league of that in-your-face "Walang tawiran, nakamamatay" (which may have been effective, albeit still inappropriate, as an annotation to the chickenwire fences), if that's what they're thinking. Official roadsigns now resorting to sarcasm is as crude as posing traffic enforcers as human signage and not fostering road courtesy at all. And what's with the singling out of private vehicles? Is hogging more than one lane now the sole privilege of PUVs?

I know I am shooting for the moon here to wish that we invest on an honest-to-goodness Drivers Ed program. Then we would probably need less pink chickenwire fences and intersection roadblocks and no longer need to change signage and their color schemes because people don't seem to get them. Right now, I can only sigh.

___________
* Paraphrased
** "Private vehicles, please stay within your lanes. Avoid driving between lane markers. You'll get to where you're going, too."
*** "No pedestrian crossing, may cause death."