Council Ridicule ‘Political Correctness’ Charge Over Polish Road Signs
Cheshire County Council today ridiculed the suggestion that eight road signs written in Polish on the A49 near Whitchurch were the result of ‘political correctness’. In fact the signs - also accompanied by the relevant directions in English - are a common sense and practical answer to traffic problems caused by a language barrier. The signs â€" just eight of 200 used to direct traffic - have been erected to help Polish drivers who do not speak English.
(Media-Newswire.com) - Cheshire County Council today ridiculed the suggestion that eight road signs written in Polish on the A49 near Whitchurch were the result of ‘political correctness’.
In fact the signs - also accompanied by the relevant directions in English - are a common sense and practical answer to traffic problems caused by a language barrier.
The signs – just eight of 200 used to direct traffic - have been erected to help Polish drivers who do not speak English.
Many of the 3000 Poles living in the Crewe area work at local companies but cannot yet read English and the situation has not been helped by many Polish lorry drivers using Cheshire’s A-roads as a shortcut from the M6.
County Engineer Steve Kent emphasised that the decision was motivated by common sense and safety concerns.
He said: "These signs have absolutely nothing to do with political correctness.
"It is a practical and common sense approach to dealing with a problem which we encountered on two similar schemes last year.
"On several occasions last year, we found that Polish-speaking drivers were failing to understand diversion signs and they were arriving at sections of major roads that we had closed off.
"In some cases, that caused congestion as we had to reverse them out of the area.
"In other cases, they would drive on the footpath, past a work gang, which obviously has safety implications for both pedestrians and the workers.
"Of course, we know that Polish drivers are not the only non-English speaking drivers using the roads, but it would not be practical to start writing signs in every conceivable language.
"But the increase in Polish drivers has been huge and those specific problems we encountered last year were mainly caused by Polish speakers.
"We thought that creating these signs, which are just eight out of around 200 for this scheme, could help to prevent similar problems re-occurring.
"At a cost a few of hundred pounds, which was footed by the contractor at no extra cost to the council, this is not a great amount in a £1.6m scheme, particularly when you consider the potential effects in terms of safety and traffic management."
The A-roads of Cheshire are often used as a short-cut by lorry drivers heading from England to Ireland via Holyhead docks, in north Wales.
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