What does this sign mean?

You might be thinking what a stupid question, it means the road ahead is closed, but the question is what road and where?

Is it after the next junction?

Is it within the next ½ mile?

Is it even the road the sign is placed on?

The answer is any or none of the above, so if it doesn’t mean anything other than a road somewhere is closed, what’s the point of the sign?

Well it does inform you that a road is closed so you should be aware and ready to find an alternative route and, even if you don’t need to take a diversion, some drivers around you might have to and will be concentrating more on the possibility of having to divert rather than on actually driving safely.

In my view road signs should not be ambiguous and, when they are no longer needed, they should be removed.

An example is the ‘Mud on Road’ warning sign. Once the mud has either been cleared up or more likely washed away, the sign should be removed. Leaving signs up that are not needed will lead to complacency and when drivers do need to watch out for wet mud ahead, they won’t. This is just one example but there are many others.