An American street sign, indicating a left turn on to Jefferson Av. Can you spot the boner?

First, I should note that I’m in Indianapolis. So most of what I refer to on this blog is in the context of that city, not the US as a whole. Things I notice in Indianapolis might not be the same for other cities in the US.

Onwards: The street signs here made almost no sense whatsoever when I first arrived. With a lot of explanation from Heather, they make more sense now, and actually make a lot more sense than they do in Britain.

Navigating a British town or city is almost impossible to someone new to the area without a map, and often leads to confusing directions like “turn left on Fir Tree Lane, and keep driving until you see the big statue, then turn right and take the second left after that” — confusing, and easily forgotten. As far as I’ve ever been able to tell, there is no structure to the way streets (roads, in British parlance) are named and organized.

American streets are a highly organized (in comparison) grid system that takes some getting used to, and I’m still not quite there (corrections are welcome). An American giving directions could probably say something as simple as “I live on College and 10th”, meaning a place where College Avenue and 10th Street intersect, and finding that is as easy as finding the nearest numbered street and going north or south (or east or west, I forget) until you reach the right number, and following that street until you see College signposted. Once you figure it out, it’s easy.

One thing that still seems strange to me is the way street signs are placed. I don’t know how well I can describe this without a better photographic aid, but I’ll try. (The image above shows a left turn for Jefferson Avenue.) In Britain, a sign for a street you’d turn left to get on to faces the road — so, for instance, you’d look out of the left window of the car, and be looking directly at a street sign. Here — or at least in Indianapolis — a sign for the same thing faces you as approach the turn, looking directly ahead, and the sign facing the road tells you the street you’re currently on.

I still haven’t made any journeys without the aid of an American, but I don’t anticipate many problems with getting around when I do.