The Road Signs of Bohol

A few weeks ago, I went on a cycling trip to Bohol. What stuck to me the most are the old road signs I saw in between Loboc and Bilar. These road signs are made of concrete with the message engraved on them. Like this one two kilometers from the center of Loboc:



It made me wonder if the change in the way we represent the curve also reflects the change in how we see the world. I like the old road sign with the sharp edges. It does not have as many curves as the new one:



But the sharpness of the edges gives me a mental jolt that says: "Look, man (or woman), these curves are really sharp." The new one seems to say: "Well, this road winds but it's pretty mellow."

My favorite sign is the one that describes the road as "the intestine of a chicken":



Why don't we use metaphors more often in our road signs? Some metaphors are unambiguous enough that everyone can grasp the meaning right away, like a low-hanging fruit waiting to be plucked with a fist clenched in anticipation. Some metaphors are vivid enough that they make good advice for people who are driving in the area for the first time.

Sometimes, the need to give out stern warning is so dire that it forces creativity. Near Cebu Port Authority in, well, Cebu, there is an intersection where accidents happen as often as breakups. So somebody got creative.

They posted a tarpaulin about two meters tall and three meters wide that posted deadly accidents that happened in the area. Those images depict what happens when the momentum of a seven-ton steel rams through human muscles, bones, and ligaments. Nothing is blurred except for the faces.

I think prefer Bohol's road signs. Descriptive and nice. Why can't we have nice things?