warning to excluded traffic is required. It is certainly not the ideal point at which to tell a motorist he cannot go on the motorway. We consider, however, that the effective exclusion of various classes of traffic from the motorway will have to depend largely on the Regulations themselves and on the publicity given to them rather than on a traffic sign, the main function of which should be the legal one of indicating where the restrictions begin. Moreover, any advance warning would have to be given on each of as many as four approaches to the junction. We consider that in the circumstances no more advanced warning is either practicable or strictly necessary.
63. The main difference between the first of the two signs we now recommend and its counterpart at Preston is that the wording is set out in a running text instead of in a column. This device, which has involved altering the order of the words, has, we believe, made the sign easier to read and has reduced its size. The word 'Motorway' is in letters with a four-inch x-height. Apart from the use of the new alphabet (see paragraph 15), the only difference between the second sign and its counterpart at Preston is that the motorway symbol has been deleted and the width of the sign has been reduced accordingly.
64. The sign at present in use on the London-Yorkshire Motorway to indicate excluded traffic, while in accordance with an earlier recommendation from us, is slightly different from that illustrated in figure 10. It is headed 'Prohibited on motorway' and the word 'NO' in the body of the text is of course omitted. It suffers from the disadvantage that it does not make it clear that the motorway Regulations are effective from the point at which it is sited, and drivers have been known to stop on the slip roads under the impression that they are allowed to do so. It may continue to have some limited use, however, at the beginning of roads which, while the motorway Regulations do not apply to them, lead only to the motorway, and we therefore illustrate it in figure 11 of Appendix IV.
65. Finally, however, we should stress our view that the presence at every point of access to the motorways of signs setting out the Regulations, which must of necessity be wordy, should not be contemplated as a permanent feature. We think that every effort should be made to ensure that these rules and Regulations become part of the general knowledge of the motoring public, so that the mere indication of a motorway, by either word or symbol, will carry with it all the necessary implications. We are glad to note that to this end an addition to the Highway Code has been prepared which deals in detail with the use of the motorways.
On the Motorway
Confirmatory Signs
66. The type of confirmatory sign recommended is shown in figure 13, and includes the distance to the destinations shown. The number of place-names can of course be increased. The sign should be placed on the near side of the motorway beyond the end of the acceleration lane where it will cater both for traffic that has just entered and traffic already on the motorway. Being purely confirmatory in purpose this sign does not really require 12-inch letters, and we recommend that eight-inch lettering should be used.
15
