How many times have you had to stop at a junction to have a close look at the road-signs (if any) and try to figure out where you are while other cars wait impatiently behind you? How many times have you driven past the sign only to find you're going the wrong way and need to turn back? Irish road signs are so bad they ought to be considered a form of post-modernist conceptual art. Giving directions is a very low priority. The main idea seems to be to explore the boundaries of experience by forcing us to stop and consider all sorts of uncomfortable possibilities. Are you going the right way? Are you on the right road? Is it really worth the effort? Are you in the right country at all?
I was driving in Wicklow recently, aiming to get to the main N11 Dublin road. You might expect the way to the main highway to be displayed on directional signs but there's no mention of it anywhere so I aimed for Ashford. I came across the sign in the photo at a T-junction. It shows the way to Ashford, but not until you're already past the middle of the junction. These old fashioned signs were designed in the days of horse-drawn transport when people would gather at the cross-roads for a chat. The sign pointing left obscures the one pointing forward so you have to drive past it to see where you're going. I stopped to check directions and found myself one of three drivers, all facing different ways, all equally confused. This is a great way of encouraging human contact at road junctions but perhaps this is not the ideal place to make new acquiantances. It's just a bit too close and too fast for comfort. This is hardly a safe or informative way of marking directions. It makes you wonder why would anyone bother putting up signs like this? Directions are needed ahead of the junction, not at or after it. Who's responsible for these crazy signs? Is anyone responsible?
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