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Road guidance signs
Road guidance signs, which are more fully defined as a direction, position, or indication signs by the Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals, are any road signs used primarily to give information about the location of either the driver or his or her possible destinations, and are considered to be a subset of the informative signs group. Road guidance signs are far more varied internationally than other classes of sign, as the Vienna Convention does not specify sizes, colours, symbols or positions of such signs. Direction signs are the oldest type of road sign, Plutarch writes about milestones being placed in the 3rd century BC, while some fingerposts in the United Kingdom date back to at least the late 17th century. With the development of the turnpike and the stagecoach, the Turnpike Roads Act of 1773 was passed, making signposting compulsory to allow the riders to judge their speed and prevent them from becoming lost. It was not until the invention of the motorcar at the turn of the 20th century that modern direction signs, with fewer words and clear design, allowing them to be read at speed, evolved. Not being controlled by the Vienna Convention, road guidance signs have evolved in different ways in different countries, though some conventions have been adopted locally. In South Africa signs on highways are blue with white lettering and major route signs are green with white lettering. Other road guidance signs seen in this country are tourism signs, which are a dirty brown colour with white lettering.
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