OddThinking

The Need for Standard Signals

Story 1: Driving in Country Sweden

Many of the back roads in Sweden are three-lanes wide – i.e. one-and-a-half in each direction.

Normally, you drive near the middle line, leaving a large shoulder to the side. I think the road has a better surface near the middle. However, when someone wants to overtake you, a little choreographed dance takes place.

The driver behind politely flashes their lights. The driver in front politely moves over the shoulder of the road.

When it is clear, the car behind then overtakes, straddling the middle line. They should be careful of oncoming traffic, but in an emergency, oncoming traffic has a safe escape route – they can veer over to the shoulder and leave enough room for all three cars.

Finally, when the manoevre is complete, the driver (now) in front politely flashes their indicators once in each direction to say thank you.

I learnt this dance before taking to the roads, and I found this last signal intriguing. A well-known signal for “thank you” while driving. How civilised, and more easily seen than waving at the rear-view mirror.

The first time I tried to overtake a car, though, I realised with terror that I hadn’t been paying enough attention. Did I flash my indicators left-then-right, or right-then-left? Was there a difference? Did one mean “Hey driver! Thank you!” while the other meant “Hey driver! Fuck you!”? Or even “Hey driver! Want to fuck me?” I was terrified of sending the wrong signal. I needed to know what the correct one was.

Story 2: Supermarket Shopping in Sweden

Every time I went shopping, at the end of the transaction, the check-out operators would automatically ask me if there were any more items. However, they would word the question differently each time – either “Do you have any more items?” or “Is that all of the items?” My Swedish wasn’t good enough to pick the difference without the question being repeated slowly about four times, which left me in a quandary. I knew the intention of the question, but I didn’t know whether “Ja” or “Nej” was the correct answer. I needed an internationally-accepted signal to mean “No, I have no more items. Yes, that is all of them.”

Story 3: Drinks at the Pub

You’re in a noisy pub, sitting with friends, and someone comes up to ask if they can use a free chair. You can barely hear the question over the juke-box and raucous laughter. Did they ask “Is this chair free?” or “Is this chair taken?” You need a set of clear, internationally-accepted signals to mean “Is this chair free?”, “That chair is not free” and “That chair is free.”

It’s clear from these three stories, alone, that there is a need here…

The Proposal

We establish a U.N.-backed, global, not-for-profit organisation with the mission to create, disseminate and educate the world in an international set of symbols.

The organisation will host a number of forums, events and communication channels – most notably, a website (internationalsignals.com is taken, perhaps internationalsymbolfor.com?) which will serve the following key roles:

1. Offer a forum for people to identify the need for new signals
2. Provide an area for people to propose, debate and decide on the new signals
3. Provide a definitive reference library of all approved signals.
4. Embark on worldwide educational programs to assist people in learning the signals that they need to know to live more fruitful and productive lives.

We are not starting from scratch here. There are already many signals that much of the world knows, but need to be made standardised and made universal. Here are just a few:

• Crossing your skis vertically in the snow to indicate you need help.
• Signing your name in the air with an invisible pen to indicate you would like your bill in a restaurant
• Raising your eyebrows, while pretending to drink from a mostly-empty invisible glass, to ask someone if they would like a drink.
• Raising one arm while drowning to call the attention of a life-guard.
• Point to the head of a horse, to indicate to drivers that they are nervous, and should be overtaken with great care.

Each of these signals have saved lives, or at least countless incomprehensible conversations in noisy arenas. Imagine what good we could do to expand this signals to include all the opportunities we are missing.

Here’s one I could use: “If you would be so kind to make room for me to move into your congested lane, I promise to proceed further across into the empty turning lane on the other side of you, and thus not inconvenience you in your quest to go straight ahead.”

Anyone got a phone number for the U.N.?