This Hill Is Dangerous

The introduction of cyclists’ “danger boards” in the United Kingdom in the 1880s established a new form of road sign aimed at private, mechanized transport that redefined ideas of safety on the road. This article explores the implications of this for established road users. In particular it considers the transfer of responsibility for erecting signs from private clubs to the state in the context of cycling’s eclipse by motoring in the early twentieth century. It uses the design development of road signs as a marker of changing power structures in road use.