SIGNS GUARD INVALIDS FROM HONKING CARS (Feb, 1932)
SIGNS GUARD INVALIDS FROM HONKING CARS
When the city surveyor of Birmingham, England, recently sought a way to end the honking of automobiles outside the homes of sick persons, he devised the means shown in the photograph. Signs bearing a warning legend were prepared and placed in readiness by city officials. Now a written or telephoned request brings a messenger who will affix the notice outside the afflicted home, to stay until it is no longer needed. The scheme is a boon to invalids, as public hospitals have hitherto been the only ones favored with “Quiet” signs.
It still amazes me that at one time, “invalid” was an acceptable term for someone who was bedridden.
So while one driver is distracted looking for “don’t honk” signs, the other driver almost hits him and has to honk.
For some reason these remind me of the “Baby on board” placards. I wonder if they were just as effective.
You don’t see “quiet” signs outside hospitals anymore, except in Warner Brothers cartoons.
For being in England, those shield-shaped road signs have a very American look to them- sort of like the old-style U.S. Highway signs (as seen in “The Grapes of Wrath”.