98. We recommended in our interim report that this sign on the slip road should use black letters on a white ground, because the directions on it related entirely to all-purpose roads . We have already drawn attention, however (in paragraph 52), to the unsightly expanse of white background on a sign this size, and in conformity with our recommendation in paragraph 22 above, that signposting on the motorway, whether relating to motorways or to all-purpose roads, should always have the same colour scheme, we now recommend that this sign in common with other direction signs on the motorway, should have white lettering on a blue ground . For the rest, the considerations set out in paragraphs 53, 54 and 55 apply equally to this sign.
Sign Indicating End of Motorway Restrictions
99. We have already recommended (paragraph 61 above) a sign to indicate to drivers after they have entered the motorway the rules governing the use of the motorway, and we now recommend a sign, to be erected at the end of the exit slip road, to signify that the rules no longer apply. We should like to recommend that the sign should consist of the motorway symbol cancelled by a red diagonal bar, but as we cannot conscientiously recommend the international motorway symbol (see paragraph 43) we content ourselves with recommending the worded sign illustrated in figure 33. The sign, which is rectangular, has white four- inch letters on a blue ground.
White Arrow on a Blue Ground
100. We recommend that, where the exit slip road joins the all-purpose road at a roundabout, a sign consisting of a large white arrow on a blue ground should be erected on the roundabout to indicate to traffic on the slip road the direction that it is intended to follow round the roundabout. In our interim report we recommended that the standard white arrow on a red ground, illustrated in the Traffic Signs Regulations, 1957, should be used here, and this has in fact been done on the first section of the London-Yorkshire Motorway. We are impressed, however, by the advantages of employing a blue rather than a red background: it conforms with the colour scheme of the great majority of the signs we are recommending for motorways; in particular it is consistent with our recommendation in paragraph 82 that signs with a white arrow on a blue disc should be used to indicate the route to be followed past obstructions on the motorway; and it is in line with practice on the Continent. Red should be reserved for danger signs, and should not be used for direction signs of this nature. For the sake of uniformity we consider that the white on blue arrow should be erected facing each entrance to the roundabout, whether along an all-purpose road or a motorway slip road, just as every approach to a junction with a motorway should be signposted with the distinctive white on blue advance direction signs (see paragraph 52).
Merging Traffic
101. After it has passed the exit slip road, traffic still on the motorway will pass the acceleration lane from the entering slip road. This will also be on the left. We have considered whether the American practice should be adopted of providing a sign to give warning to the main motorway traffic that vehicles may here be merging with it. We consider that provided the mouth of the entry slip road and the boundary of the acceleration lane are sufficiently clearly marked on the carriageway, a sign of this kind should not be necessary. Later on in this
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