| Nederlands | Falling Rocks on Madeira |
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| II.1993; pict. G. Coghe | II.1993; pict. G. Coghe | II.1993; pict. G. Coghe |
| On Madeira, warning signs for falling rocks, although
sharing characteristics with some designs from Portugal, are much more
consistent in appearance. They are a local breed, exactly
like the men at work. We recognize them by
+ a succession of three or four rocks floating down + the rocks having a similar size + one, sometimes two, fallen rocks on the ground The last point makes that Madeiran warning signs do a much better job than most designs from other countries. Let's analyse the situation. |
From a road safety viewpoint a stone
can have four states :
1) still glued in the mother rock 2) falling down 3) fallen down on the road 4) removed from the road Only state 2) and 3) pose a threat. It never takes a rock more than a few seconds to come down. State 3) is likely to last much longer. It can take hours (days) before a large boulder is removed from the road. Ample time for a collision. Thus a fallen rock is a bigger safety hazard than a falling rock. |
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| Porto Santo, XI.2002 pict. Baeten & De Dier |
XI.2002 pict. Baeten & De Dier |
XI.2002 rotated pict. Baeten & De Dier |
| Strangely enough, most countries
depict falling rocks only, thus ignoring the longest and most dangerous
stage in a road-side rock's life. Is it because (a) a picture with falling
rocks is much more expressive ? Or (b) because they are in the dark
about everyday rock physics? As option (a) doesn't count with textual warnings,
it's enough to find one to get an insight in the designer's mind.
If (a = pictorial constraints) is valid then we should read fallen.
Falling suggests that (b) is true. Australia,
Hawaii and the U.S.A. carry
textual warnings. Not really hope giving, is it?
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The finds on the second row seem to deviate from the normal way of doing in Madeira. There is no fallen rock and the top of the cliff is unusual. It's enough to rotate the image to understand what happened. The cliff top metamorphoses into two fallen boulders giving the panel the expected appearance. The signs are wrongly mounted. (Find a plausible excuse in Armenia.) |
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Sometimes the warning triangle is integrated
in a larger board with some extra text like Perigo, queda de pedras.
In that case there is more freedom in the drawing of the stones.
I wonder why explicative text is felt necessary. A warning sign is supposed to be clear enough on its own. |
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| XI.2002 pict. Baeten & De Dier |
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| VII.2002; pict. L. Scheerlynck | II.1993; pict. G. Coghe |
| Path: Home / Country list / Rocks in Madeira | e-mail: | |
| More roadsigns from Madeira: Men at work - Children's crossing | ||
| Road signs from Portugal: Men at work - Children's crossing - Falling rocks |