Sloppy Signage on the W&OD Trail

The Culprit

I bought a new bike a few months back, and I’ve been riding the trails around Northern Virginia as much as the weather and my schedule permit. I saw this sign on the Washington and Old Dominion, one of the primary trails in the area. At a moderate cycling speed – maybe 20mph – I did not even come close to being able to read this monstrously complex sign. I suppose walkers would have time to puzzle it out, but it’s hopeless for anyone moving at speed or concentrating on what they’re doing.

Taking the time to decipher the sign, it tells us that bikes and inline skaters should yield to pedestrians, and everyone should yield to horses. But when I see a triangle with arrows on it, my first expectation is that I’m looking at a cycle (for example, rock yields to paper yields to scissors yields to rock). Only after looking at every single icon and arrow do I realize that this is not the case on this sign, because one of the arrows has been flipped. Instead of fighting people’s expectations, the sign should be laid out in the same way people read: left to right, top to bottom. Put the message on two lines: “Cyclists yield to Pedestrians / Yield to Horses.” I’ll admit their design is more clever and takes up less space; however the meaning is muddled. In signage the goal is clarity, not wit.

Of course in a more perfect world, this sign would function better if split into two: first, a sign indicating cyclists and rollerbladers should yield to pedestrians; and 20-30 feet later, a sign reading “Yield to horses.” This would give more time to read the sign, and clear up any confusion about who should be yielding to whom. Come on economic stimulus package – get me a new sign!

Anyway, I don’t usually gripe this much, but I can’t bike past bad design and let it stand.

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