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Children's Crossing Signs in Belize

VII.1993 VII.1993 Caye Calker, i.2004; pict. T. Dixon
An excellent find. Admire the detail in the drawing. The boy wears shorts and has his books under the arm. Notice the short sleeves of the mother's dress, and the umbrella of the girl. Why can't all road signs be made so lovely?

It's also one of the very few signs featuring more than two persons. Find some others in France (with three children) and in the U.S.A. (couple with child).

This sign generates confusion in more than one way. It's placed at the right side of the road, exactly were it should in a right hand driving environment. The picture however shows us people going away from the road. It's therefore a drawing designed for left-hand driving. I presume it's a left-over from the time that Belize still was British Honduras.

The caption Go Slow together with the picture of pedestrians wrongly suggests that the walking should be slow, not the driving. It's only when (if) you start thinking that you'll notice that the orientation of the panel indicates that the text is directed at the drivers. But road signs must be unequivocal without thinking. Read more about this in Bulgaria and Armenia.

Retired Americans seem to bring their familiar road signs with them. Crippled design always wins. Not that the indigenous design is perfect, but the heads are at least heads and connec­ted with the body.

A peculiarity of children's signs (they look like adults, but they carry a bookbag and therefore are no pedestrians in our jargon) in several new world countries is the weak application of trans­parency. The lines here do not show between the legs (see also Guatemala, Hawaii, U.S.A.). Countries who do understand transparency on road signs are Indonesia and the Philippines.

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