More road sign mayhem
Ok, maybe I’m making a meal out of nothing but this is just another example of government incompetence.
Today Taoiseach Brian Cowen is opening a new stretch of the M6 between Athlone and Ballinasloe. All the speed limit signs on the new dual carriageway currently display 100km/h however in 36 days the road will be designated a motorway with a 120km/h speed limit. To allow this, all the signs must be replaced!
Thankfully a large protest at the event ensured it wasn’t the usual cosy cutting of tape affair.
One thing that I had found astonishing was the use of signage for the National Development plan. Everywhere you go across the country there are signs like the one above for projects that were finished a long time ago, under the 2000-2006 project.
Many of these signs are also very inappropriately placed. One I saw recently was a huge sign for the national broadband scheme. It was on the main street of a rural town. There is no central place for broadband and you definetly couldn’t see any work happening so it really was a pointless sign. Nobody passing through cares that you have broadband and the local residents surely don’t need to be reminded.
There are huge political implications from these signs. The centre text reads “Funded by the Irish Government”. These signs are Fianna Fáil posters in disguise!
There’s even one of these signs in my school grounds. It refers to our school’s extension. Again like the above sign it only quotes the EU and the government as funders. In my school we fundraised tirelessly to raise the money needed however no government sign is acknowledging this!
Another sign that I feel is redundant are the Special Olympics 2003 signs. These dot the countryside in every town that hosted athletes from different countries. These signs were great at the time and the idea for each town to house a country was a very successful exercise. It’s the only decentralisation plan that the government has to its credit. However these signs are now confusing to tourists and to the younger population who don’t know about the event 6 years ago.
All these useless signs should be sent to the scrap heap and they should be made to better use elsewhere.