Worboys Committee
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The Worboys Committee was formed by the British government to review signage on all British roads. In its July 1963 report ''Traffic signs: report of the committee on traffic signs for all-purpose roads'', it found existing road signs to be obsolete for the increasing numbers of motor vehicles and their increasing speeds, and made over a dozen key recommendations. The committee went on to completely revise road signs in Britain, with an emphasis on symbols alone, adopting standard colour and shape practices used in mainland Europe and a new typeface. Its principles were adopted and are still the basis of all road signs in the United Kingdom.


The Anderson Committee

The first moves to a new signage system were prompted by the first
motorways A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms ...
. Flaws of existing signs had already been observed with drivers at speed struggling to interpret them. New signs were needed in 1958 for the opening of the
Preston By-pass The Preston Bypass was the United Kingdom’s first motorway. It was designed and engineered by Lancashire County Council surveyor James Drake as part of a larger initiative to create a north-south motorway network that would later form part ...
, the first motorway. A separate committee, known as the 'Anderson Committee', was assembled in 1957 to design signage. The committee took inspiration from the United States and Germany who were designing their own motorways and signage to go with them. Two graphic designers were commissioned to design the system of signage: Jock Kinneir and his assistant (and later business partner) Margaret Calvert.


The Worboys Committee and advisors

Two articles were published in 1961 by graphic designer
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, illustrating the shortcomings of non-motorway British road signs. The committee was created, chaired by Sir Walter Worboys of ICI. T. G. Usborne of the
Ministry of Transport A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government ...
had charge of proceedings, and Kinneir and Calvert were again commissioned as designers. In 1963 the committee released ''Traffic signs: report of the committee on traffic signs for all-purpose roads''. This completely revised road signs in Britain with an emphasis on symbols alone. It adopted standard colour and shape practices used in mainland Europe and used a new typeface that had already been used on the motorway signs, called
Transport Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land ( rail and road), water, cable, pipelin ...
. On 1 January 1965, the ''
Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions The Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions (commonly abbreviated to TSRGD) is the law that sets out the design and conditions of use of official traffic signs that can be lawfully placed on or near roads in Great Britain ( England, ...
'' (TSRGD), the legal framework for road signs in Britain, was revised to adopt the proposed changes in the report.


Pre-Worboys sign flaws

The report found eight primary flaws in the United Kingdom's traffic signage. Most pre-Worboys signs consisted of two signs: the top one was one of four designs, a red 'triangle', 'disk', 'ring' or 'triangle in ring' that identified the sign's type; the second lower sign identified the hazard or restriction. The lower sign was approximately tall and approximately wide. The majority also lacked any larger dimensions for use on higher-speed roads. The new Worboys designs for warning signs had a minimum height of , and three additional sizes: , , for higher-speed roads or special situations that warranted a larger sign. Regulatory signs were , and greatly simplified through use of symbols eliminating wordy signs.


"Traffic signs – 1963"

The report found existing road signs to be completely obsolete in view of increasing numbers of motor vehicles and their increasing speeds, and made over a dozen key recommendations: * Letter sizes should be increased compared to existing signs and up to on high-speed roads. Wording should be
Sentence case Letter case is the distinction between the letters that are in larger uppercase or capitals (or more formally ''majuscule'') and smaller lowercase (or more formally ''minuscule'') in the written representation of certain languages. The writing ...
, not in all capital letters. * Signs should reflect the design of traffic signs used in the rest of Europe, with an emphasis on using symbols and the shape of sign to convey the message, not words. Further, doing away with the previous standard sign designs consisting of two separate signs to form a complete sign. * Provision of
give way In road transport, a yield or give way sign indicates that merging drivers must prepare to stop if necessary to let a driver on another approach proceed. A driver who stops or slows down to let another vehicle through has yielded the right of w ...
and
stop sign A stop sign is a traffic sign designed to notify drivers that they must come to a complete stop and make sure the intersection is safely clear of vehicles and pedestrians before continuing past the sign. In many countries, the sign is a red oc ...
s at junctions on minor roads when they meet primary routes. * More usage of sign illumination, and improvements to existing standards and increased use of cat's eyes (roadway reflectors). * Uniformity in the deployment and use of traffic signs. * Clearer marking of primary routes, through use of colour-coded signs to aid drivers in identifying them if they are unfamiliar with an area. * Direction signs should be colour-coded, with primary routes having green signs with white words and yellow route numbers; signs on-priority roads should be black and white. The report suggested approximately 136 signs. The designs proposed in the report received further revisions before the 1964 TSRGD, as the proposed prohibited signs featured a '
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' on signs like 'Bicycles prohibited', 'All motor vehicles prohibited'; a minimum speed limit sign that was not included; a rectangular 'Pass either side' sign; and the designs of symbols, like 'telephone' and 'road works ahead'.


Consistency with motorway signs

In 1962, the Anderson Committee published ''Motorway Signs: Final Report of Advisory Committee for Traffic Signs on Motorways'' which laid out their designs for motorway signage. Ultimately, motorway directional and informational signs were included in the 1964 TSRGD. The warning and most regulatory signs proposed in the final Anderson report were not adopted for use, and the designs proposed in the Worboys report were used instead in future motorway projects.


Later revisions

A major review of the direction signing system conducted in the late 1980s found effectively no problems with the Worboys system. This review could only recommend the introduction of white-on-brown tourist signing and a few other minor changes, later known as the ''Guildford Rules''. "Worboys was a world leader in good signing practice".


See also

*
Transport (typeface) Transport is a sans serif typeface first designed for road signs in the United Kingdom. It was created between 1957 and 1963 by Jock Kinneir and Margaret Calvert as part of their work as designers for the Department of Transport's Anderson a ...
– proposed by the report and still used in Britain for road signs *
Road signs in the United Kingdom Road signs in the United Kingdom and in its associated Crown dependencies and overseas territories conform broadly to European design norms, though a number of signs are unique: direction signs omit European route numbers and road signs gene ...


Notes


References


External links

* * at Wikimedia Commons.
The Worboys Report
at Roads.org.uk
''Traffic signs: report of the committee on traffic signs for all-purpose roads''
– a copy of the 1963 report, at the
Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

''Motorway Signs: Final Report of Advisory Committee for Traffic Signs on Motorways''
- a similar 1962 report for
motorway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms i ...
signage, some of which was adopted by ''Traffic Signs'' report, at the Internet Archive {{United Kingdom roads Street furniture Traffic signs Road safety Signs Road safety in the United Kingdom