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RIDING AND READING
This article first appeared in the January 1979 issue of the Journal of Reading (Volume 22, No.4) and is reprinted with the permission of the author and the International Reading Association. As the summer vacation period approaches some of our readers may want to check the list of highway signs against those in use in Canada and make any changes. As the list is composed of active vocabulary it is useful for generating lesson themes around experiential learning. Perhaps some of you may be prompted to compile similar kinds of lists appropriate to other areas of daily living and share them with us. Ed. The energy shortage, although significantly affecting the size of automobiles, has had little effect upon the number of drivers who travel the highways of the United. States or the number of miles they travel. In fact, vehicular travel has become one of the most common experiences Americans continue to share. Because of this, we face an increasing need to produce drivers who are well informed and sophisticated in relation to modern driving requirements. A basic requirement for driving sophistication is that all drivers understand the roadway messages that alert them to information necessary for survival or, at the very least, for making the experience more comfortable. These messages, usually in written form, presuppose a level of reading ability which is not only unrealistic in terms of some drivers' years of formal education, but also in relation to the apparently poor reading skills of many drivers. Stated otherwise, the licensing requirements of most states insure neither that the driver's formal educational background has adequately provided him/her with necessary skills nor that the skills thus acquired are sufficient for understanding the complex messages of the roadside. On a recent automobile trip across the southern and eastern part of the United States, I observed that reading signs along the highway required skills, knowledge of concepts, and knowledge of polysyllabic words that would represent real stumbling blocks for less able readers, those unfamiliar with the language and terminology, or even those who can read well enough, but too slowly to be able to see the words as a car travels quickly past. The accompanying list of common highway signs was compiled during several thousand miles of highway travel. Every effort was made to record the signs accurately. Only those considered significant to safety and personal convenience are included here. The list is offered for use by teachers of remedial reading, secondary age students, adult literacy, drivers' education, and English as a second language.
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