Here are three grades of sign:

• Negative
• Positive Unresolved
• Positive Proactive

Most signs are of the negative kind: No Parking, No Dogs, No Ball Games.

This tell you what you can’t do.  They seem on the face of it to be the most strongly worded, but it’s my contention that these are the weakest signs from the point of view of being obeyed.  The reason?  They don’t give you any sympathy for the authority that posted the sign, they simply intrude on your private plan to, e.g. have a kick around, or park up and grab a sandwich.

Positive signs are better.  They might say Keep Clear, or Please Keep off the Grass.  These ask you to do something rather than not to do something.  More importantly, they give you an idea of the purpose for doing that thing.  Please Keep Clear suggests that you can help the person who posted the sign, who has a need for that area to be clear.  However, like the negative sign, these signs impose a problem on the reader.  Where should I park then, if not here?  What else shall I do if no ball games are allowed?

Positive Proactive signs go one step further by solving the problem that they present to the reader: Please Place Paper Towels In the Bin Provided, Queue This End, Road Closed until X, follow Diversion.  This type of sign must surely be the easiest to obey.

The sign that inspired this post is “No Turning” which, if you imagine yourself in an HGV driving down a cul-de-sac leaves you with a choice of a really tricky future possibly involving cranes, or ignoring the sign.