February 2003
Sign Off
Watch out! Don’t step on the orange man! Crouched on the pavements of Munich, asphalt painters are busily creating little orange men, who are pushing a loaded cart, to warn commuters and pedestrians of “loading zones.” A simple blue line has previously been used, but perhaps because these marks were so easily overlooked, loading zones were constantly occupied. The city council has launched this pilot project in an effort to combat this problem and reduce the whopping number of signs in the city. Wilfried Blume-Beyerle, head of the city council, hopes to get rid of about one-third of the some 3,000 signs that presently litter the streets of Munich, giving detailed parking instructions and regulations. The orange figures indicate limited parking only (maximum stopping time of 3 minutes) between the hours of 8 am and 7 pm, and are already in effect.
