英國呼籲減少路標 美化市容

The British government has declared war on the profusion of unnecessary road traffic signs, railings and advertising boards, saying they blight towns' English character.

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles and Transport Secretary Philip Hammond has written to local council leaders in England, calling on them to cut the number of unsightly signs and other "street clutter."

Even traffic lights are in the firing line.

Ministers want the public to inform local authorities of particularly bad examples of excess signage, to clean up the national landscape.

"Our streets are losing their English character," Pickles said. "We are being overrun by scruffy signs, bossy bollards, patchwork paving and railed-off roads -- wasting taxpayers' money that could be better spent on fixing potholes."

The government says that in some cases traffic signs are installed by councils in the mistaken belief they are legally required, when they are not.

Hammond said the abundance of so-called street furniture often makes towns resemble "scrapyards," confusing motorists and obstructing pedestrians.

For signs to be most effective, ministers say, they should be kept to a minimum.

When busy Kensington High Street in central London was stripped of excess road furniture, for example, it helped reduce accidents by 47 percent.

The Department for Transport is reviewing traffic signs policy and new advice on how to reduce clutter will be published later this year.

For more Bilingual News, please log on to our website at . For now, this has been Nelly Min

日前，英國政府呼籲拆除過多的路標、欄杆和廣告牌，稱這些街道設施破壞了英國城鎮的景觀。

英國社區事務大臣埃裏克•皮科爾斯和交通事務大臣菲利普•哈蒙德日前致信英格蘭地方市政官員，要求展開整治市容工作，清除街道上的一些煞風景的標識和其它“多餘的路面設施”。

甚至交通信號燈也在被拆範圍之列。

兩位大臣希望民衆能將特別多餘的路標告知地方政府，幫助整治英國的城鎮景觀。

皮科爾斯說：“我們的街道正逐漸失去英國風範。到處是零亂的路標、礙事的護欄、拼鋪的小路和被欄杆圍起來的馬路，本可以用於修補坑穴的納稅人的錢都被浪費在了這些方面。”

英國政府稱，有時地方政府錯誤地認爲設立某些路標是應法律法規的要求，但實際上這些路標並不需要。

哈蒙德說，過多的街道設施常常把城鎮變得像個“廢品堆放場”，不僅會繞暈司機，還會給行人帶來不便。

兩位大臣稱，街道路標的設立應有個度，才能起到指引作用。

比如，倫敦中部繁忙的肯辛頓大街拆掉了多餘的道路設施後，交通事故數量減少了47%。

目前英國交通部正在審覈交通路標的相關政策，有關如何減少道路設施數量的新建議將於今年晚些時候公佈。

Vocabulary:

profusion: the property of being extremely abundant（豐富；大量）

unsightly:unpleasant to look（難看的）

overrun: invade in great numbers（蔓延；佔領）

scruffy:shabby and untidy（骯髒的；不整潔的）