Saturday 8 May 2010

How to read a traffic sign?

Until recently there was an agricultural path between Chazelle and La Bergerie, the other hamlet that resorts under the jurisdiction of Cormatin. It was, apart from the last 100 m, a macadam road. Since the road has been used as a deviation during roadworks in Chazelle, the status has changed to road “Communale”, and the last bit of sand has made place for asphalt. After the road had been opened to the public (before that it was a “secret” road only known by insiders) a new traffic sign appeared on the side of La Bergerie. At the Chazelle side the old sign (voie agricole) is still there. The new sign consists of a no-entry sign, and underneath it it says : “Except for school busses from 8h15 to 8h30 and from 17h00 to 17h15”. That seemed a bit strange to me: it suggests that the road is closed throughout the day, and only school busses are allowed there twice a day for a period of 15 minutes. In the other direction the road is open all day. It would effectively turn the road into a one way street. Since we had to go to the mairie for something different, we asked the question about the new road sign. No, we had completely misunderstood it, was the answer.
It clearly said - according to the deputy mayor: the road is only closed for all cars driving from La Bergerie to Chazelle during 15 minutes in the morning and in the afternoon, at the time the school bus uses the road from Chazelle to La Bergerie. This would prevent the school bus from having to dive into the roadside when cars are approaching from the other direction. Obviously the guy who wrote the sign wanted to make it extra clear, but doing it this way he actually obscured the issue. He should have said “Only between 8h15 and 8h30 and between 17h00 and 17h15”, without mentioning school busses. Anyway, we are now in the know, and we are happily using this handy short-cut, but only outside the mentioned hours!

The website of La Tuilerie de Chazelle

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