Confusing streetnames

We’re looking at a crossing today, in Scheemda. We’re driving on the main road and to the left and to the right of is a street, each with a different name. Streetsigns are blue in the Netherlands and usually located on a streetlamp, I hope you can spot them on this small image. Otherwise, enlarge the image by clicking on it!

Now imagine you’re looking for a street called “Kwekerslaan”, which you know from your map is on your right. It would be logical to look at the streetsign on the right, right? :)

The municipality of Scheemda disagrees! The streetname for the right street is on the streetlamp on the left street… I’ve included a close-up to make this clear. Notice the tiny, tiny arrow in the sign?

Solution #

Especially for road signs, creative solutions are not a good idea. Drivers have a complicated task to do anyway and every second they have to spent on finding and understanding a roadsign is a second not looking at other, more important things. With 30 km/h, this means a car has travelled 8 meters with the driver not spending his cognitive attention on the road. The convention is to put streetnames on a streetlamp close to the street to which they belong, and this is yet another case where we shouldn’t have deviated from conventions.