Learning Road Sign Safety

An important part of comprehensive workplace safety training programs involves helping employees with learning road sign safety. While this is particularly important for those workers whose jobs involve driving or working along the roadways, it is beneficial for all workers to understand the basics of road sign safety.

Anyone who uses the highways or works near them must develop a thorough understanding of road sign safety. In order for these signs to serve the purpose of protecting drivers, pedestrians and workers, everyone should understand the meanings and implications of all road signs.

Consider what would happen on the roadways if all drivers didn’t understand that a red light meant stop. The result would be chaos, and transportation conditions would be highly unstable and unsafe. The foundation of our transportation system relies on those who use it developing a common understanding of the signs and symbols of highway safety.

Even though individuals must demonstrate basic knowledge of road sign safety to earn a driver’s license, that knowledge may not stay with them over a long period of time, particularly if they haven’t been exposed to some of the road signs for very long. Most people tend to forget things they memorize for a test but never put into practice. When it comes to making sure our employees have the knowledge and skills they need to avoid getting injured or causing injuries, it is important to verify what they know and provide training that fills in the gaps.

The following free resources are available for use as part of your ongoing internal safety training program:

• The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices handbook from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) is an excellent tool for road sign safety training. It is the official publication of the Federal Highway Administration, and is available for free download.

• An online manual of the most common U.S. traffic signs is available for download at TrafficSign.us. The manual includes many types of road signs, including: marker, regulatory, warning, temporary traffic control among others.

• You can download free PowerPoint presentations called Sharing the Road Safely and Rules of the Road from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Web site.

• Roadwise: A Complete Traffic Safety Program Toolkit, developed by the Texas Cooperative Extension Service, is available for free download from the Texas A&M Family and Consumer Sciences department’s Web site.

• You can request the free brochure, Maintenance of Road Signs, Markings and Other Safety Assets: A Cost Effective Means for Optimizing Road Safety, from the International Road Federation, an organization dedicated to international road safety that reaches across six continents and into more than eighty different countries, including the United States.

If your road sign safety training needs go beyond what you are able to handle internally, it may be in your best interest to invest in fee-based resources, such as those listed below.

• Fifth Dimension Technologies offers a computer-based training system that includes a visual and text-based database of international road signs and the associated rules and regulations.

• The Risk Management Library is a subscription-based service that provides access to a wide variety of training materials related to many aspects of workplace safety. The library’s online Fleet Training category contains many slide presentations, articles, online quizzes, etc. designed to teach road sign safety, among many other facets of safe traffic and transportation practices.

It’s a good idea to stock a library of books and other learning resources that your employees can utilize on an as-needed basis. This is an excellent way to supplement your ongoing safety training program. When you have a fully stocked safety resource center, learning road sign safety becomes more convenient for your staff. Employees can find information on specific topics when they need it, rather than having to wait for specific topics to be brought up in safety meetings or for subject specific seminars:

• Observational Before - and After Studies in Road Safety by E. Hauer
• The Handbook of Road Safety Measures by Rune Elvik
• The Human Factors of Transport Signs edited by Candida Castro and Tim Harberry
• The Struggle for Auto Safety by Jerry L. Mashaw and David L. Harfst

By making sure that your employees are well versed in road sign safety, you will be taking important steps to protect them and the general public from unnecessary traffic-related injuries.

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