I’ve noticed Australians seem to have a similar issue: they decry the Nanny State at home, but all the ones I’ve met abroad complain about the current location being insufficiently nannified. Often both complaints in the same conversation.
Finally: Italians. I thought a trip from Milan to Rome was going to be like a trip through Somalia the way the Italians I know describe their country. In fact, everything seemed to work exceptionally smoothly, although whenever I bring this up I’m told that I simply didn’t venture south enough.
Freedom for me, but cheering when someone else gets caught by the police when they are breaking the law. It’s an odd dichotomy. I don’t hate it but we do seem to lack self awareness with a slightly English style.
All the things people are saying here about Australians are the same complaints Americans in the west have about Californians.
I note a z in organized ...
I do get where you are coming from: My mum used to joke about a fictional sign that said "Please do not throw stones at this sign". Some of our signage is absolutely laughable.
We do have road signs that proclaim: "New signage" or "New road system" etc. The locals know what has changed already and non locals are encountering it for the first time anyway, so why bother.
Across the entirety of the UK, our road signage is pretty rock solid. There may be a few degenerate cases but all sharp corners have chevron warning signs and they do save lives.
I'm not sure it's as absurd as it sounds. Do you look at the signage you pass every day? I suspect I don't.
When they put in a new stop sign near where I live (in the US), things were less safe for a long time because people consistently drove through it without slowing. Since this was not a consistent problem with any other stop sign nearby, I believe it was not willful disobedience but people so used to there being no stop sign there that they literally didn't see it.
(Even with literal neon pennants on it, people kept driving through it anyway, but you'd at least sometimes see people skid to a stop partway through the intersection, presumably as their brains caught up. And eventually it penetrated locals' consciousnesses, and now they stop.)
"Do you look at the signage you pass every day?" - I do and so does my sodding car and it still annoys me when it gets the speed limits wrong!
I accept I'm not everyone and noting and warning about change is a good idea. We do have a lot of signs and I'm pretty sure I've seen signs warning about upcoming signage (not really 8)
I'm happy to report that I've driven in several US states (mostly FL, including around and in Miami and Orlando) and found it pretty straight forward. "Right on red" is pure genius and "four way pass in turn" is not, especially when multiple lanes are involved!
Most signs do not have bullet holes in them. Like, 98/100 signs are holes-frei
Not entirely accurate? Non-locals may visit the area often enough that they're familiar with the area but will not necessarily be familiar with local changes.
(eg parents visiting from another part of the country every few months)
Not really. New changes like adding stop signs or converting a one way stop to all way must be conveyed to locals who's muscle memory will send them sailing through.
Happened to me recently, city added an all way stop to a 4-way free for all intersection and converted two intersections from one way to all way stop. I sailed right through the new all way stop the first day - no cop but I caught it as I went through. Missed the big yellow NEW STOP AHEAD too. Almost ran it again the next few times. Now at least 6 moths later I still see that sign and have to think "oh yeah, thats there."
I think high school English in my country is officially British English, but practically we all learn from reading American media.
The first time I saw one of these I stopped to take a picture. It just seems the most ridiculous thing to warn people about, as if somehow "elderly people" can't cross the road.
You might consider them redundant because elderly people can also cross the road where there aren't any signs, but then few warning signs aren't.
I don't understand this mindset. Do people not walk where you live, or do you not have elderly care homes? I've been to _multiple_ countries and nearly all of them with some uniform signage standard warn motorists about elderly and children crossing.