It would seem a road sign created by children in the 1980’s is offending the elderly. Just as a point the kids that designed it will be approaching their 50’s. Irony?
Beware, elderly people getting crosser: OAPs demand revamp of insulting crossing sign
It is one of the most instantly recognisable traffic signs – a hunched couple with a walking stick warning motorists to
watch out for elderly pedestrians crossing the road.
But campaigners are calling for it to be scrapped because it is insulting to today’s fitter, healthier senior citizens.
Help the Aged said showing pensioners with walking sticks was behind the times ‘The sign portrays a small proportion of the older generation,’ said Help the Aged senior policy officer Lizzy McLennan, 26. ‘ Very few older people are hunched over, with a walking stick. ‘They are assuming everyone who is old looks like that, and they don’t.’
Gordon Lishman, director general of Age Concern, said: ‘The motivation behind these signs – to make drivers more careful of their speed in areas with residential care homes – is positive. ‘However, in practice a reduced speed limit in such areas, as implemented in school districts, would be a more welcome way to achieve this.’
The current sign for ‘elderly people crossing’ was the winning entry in a children’s competition held in 1981.
Regulations introduced in 2003 did away with the caption ‘elderly people’ underneath the road sign because it was ageist.
A spokesman for the Highways Agency said it would not be making further alterations.
‘To change every sign in the country would cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of pounds – and a change in the law.
‘It’s not a simple process, and I don’t think most people would see it as
a high priority for government spending.’