Creating a Navigator’s Paradise in Sydney and beyond

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The measures listed below as "The Means" were successfully trialled in a Sydney suburb in 1998-99 and endorsed by emergency service authorities.  For more information e-mail streetsigns@optusnet.com.au  

THE VISION: In 20 years’ time, a Sydney metropolitan area that is easy to navigate even on busy roads with heavy, fast-moving traffic. At every intersection a motorist can easily see what suburb he is in, what street he is on, and where he is on that street. At intersections he can quickly and safely determine whether to turn right or left for the address he wants. If he overshoots his address, he will know at the very next intersection. Where practical, kerb numbers guide him smoothly in his final approach.

By 2020, the emergency services have cut minutes from their response times of October 2000. All road users experience less stress and road rage is down. Accidents caused by driver hesitation are fewer.

THE MEANS: all councils would embrace as standard practice:

THE FUNDING: The above vision is achievable over time with only a slight increase in a council’s budget. For economy, existing serviceable signs should not be replaced, but supplemented, until virtually every pole has two (or more) signs. Depending on a council’s finances, this process may be done quickly or may be spread over many years.

All new signs, whether supplements or replacements for vandalised or faded signs, would be in a Lifesaver format. Lifesaver signs cost no more than those already in use by many councils.

Kerb numbering is popular with the community. In the 1998-99 Navigator’s Paradise trial, many residents indicated they would be willing to pay a levy to help their council finance blanket numbering. Gold Coast Council in Queensland supplies numbers on a 4-year rolling program, renewing painted numbers for ¼ of urban and suburban properties each year. Rural properties are numbered using a special scheme endorsed by the emergency services.

Gradually, metropolitan Sydney can become a Navigator’s Paradise. All that is needed is for councils to adopt a city-wide standard and begin using it now.

1 November, 2000
Revised 10 July, 2001

LIFESAVER SIGNS

Lifesaver signs show property numbers in wedge notation in large fonts. Instead of showing the range of numbers within a block, wedge notation shows the first number on both sides of the street and an incline or wedge symbol to indicate the direction the numbers run. Parentheses enclose the number on the side of the street opposite the sign.

(Signs FAQ gives the shortcomings of conventional notation which prompted the development of wedge notation. Signs FAQ also answers other questions asked during the trial of the measures listed under "The Means" above.)

The emergency services asked that wedge notation be a part of the Navigator’s Paradise trial. The trial revealed that not only these services, but the public in general, highly value property numbers on signs and want them on all signs, not just those in CBDs and on arterial roads.

In the Navigator’s Paradise trial, wedge notation was used in a horizontal arrangement—number, (number), wedge—above street name, 30mm in height. The scheme was liked, but feedback showed the numbers were too small to read at speed. A retired design engineer submitted the format subsequently named Lifesaver I. He pointed out that even the 50mm height specified for numbers in Australian Standard AS1742.5 are too small for motorists to safely read.

Property numbers on signs were designed for pedestrians in CBDs, not for drivers. Pedestrians can walk up close to read small numbers and have time to study what they mean. Drivers can do neither. With Lifesaver signs, wedge notation plus large fonts (70mm minimum height) enable a driver to easily read, process, and act safely on the information given.

Lifesaver signs can save lives because they can:

In the Navigator’s Paradise proposed for Sydney and beyond, Lifesaver signs would eventually be used for all streets at every intersection. Property numbers in wedge notation would appear on every sign, except for cul-de-sacs numbered in a circular fashion where conventional "range" notation could be used if desired. In metropolitan areas, suburb name would appear on at least one sign on every pole.

What is needed now is for at least one council to trial Lifesaver signs. The signs trialled in the Navigator’s Paradise trial used wedge notation but they were not Lifesavers. In that trial, sixteen new signs (1/4 of the signs in the trial area) were used to supplement existing signs. Ideally, the trial of the Lifesaver format would be used in a new subdivision where every sign would be new.

Councils should not hesitate to undertake such a trial as the emergency services have already endorsed the Lifesaver as a format they would like to see all over Sydney.

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