December 21, 2013

Traffic signs for the colour blind and other short stories

Filed under: Automobiles,Bicycles,General by Branko Collin @ 1:19 pm

A couple of short stories today.

cars-no-entry-new-2012-branko-collin cars-no-entry-old-branko-collin1. Starting October 2012 transportation infrastructure operators in the Netherlands were allowed to use new traffic signs that have been optimised for colour blind people.

The new signs were given white lines to increase contrast between red and blue elements and to increase contrast of signs with a red border when viewed against a green background, the Dutch government said. Infrastructure operators (‘wegbeheerders’ in Dutch) are free to determine if and when they will replace the old signs. The Netherlands isn’t the first country to introduce road signs for people with deficient vision, I found examples on Flickr of similarly adapted signs in Italy and France.

2. Orangemaster and I attended the opening of the Dutch Rail Lost&Found pop-up store we wrote about earlier. We kind of rushed through it, so I did not get many photos (there is one below), but The Post Online’s photographer spent some more time there.

3. In the 1970s, the Netherlands were rapidly on their way to becoming a car sick country. Mark Wagenbuur has created several videos about how protesters managed to turn this development around. His most recent video explores how school children helped raise awareness for their particular plight in the densely populated Pijp neighbourhood in Amsterdam.

ns-lost-found-popup-branko-collin

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May 29, 2013

Trash bags in Amsterdam get their own Facebook page

Filed under: General,Online by Orangemaster @ 10:19 am

Following the trend of protesting or trying to shed light on issues by setting up a Facebook page, a resident of Amsterdam’s De Pijp district who lives on the Van der Helstplein (Van der Helst square) has had enough of the heaps of trash accumulating there and has set up a Facebook page called Van der Helst-belt.

The square is full of restaurants and cafes, which would explain the preponderance of trash, but not why it isn’t picked up often enough or on time. The other problem is that people tend to put out their trash every day, which goes against the rules of that area.

Trash is a complicated business in Dutch cities. In Nijmegen for example, unless it has changed recently, residents pay extra money to use city-approved trash bags, which you buy at the regular store, so basically you pay for what you throw out. In places like Amsterdam, you pay a flat fee per year depending on the make-up of your household. In my co-blogger ultraposh neighbourhood it’s a Wednesday-Saturday affair, while in my lesser yet decent part of town, I can go across the street anytime and put it in one of the three underground bins.

(Link: www.rtvnh.nl)

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April 5, 2007

Action group cuts down advertising forest

Filed under: General by Orangemaster @ 7:51 pm

adverts1.jpg

The idea of a ‘visual assault’ was taken quite literally by an action group who got rid of some of the posters and put up some of their own last night. Here, you can read ‘Amsterdam, free of adverstising’. They claim – as many people already believe, if you ask around – that “the advertising firm in question is working on the further commercialisation of the city, destroying the charactertisitc street image.” Translation: nobody really likes this stunt and everybody thinks it’s ugly.

A Labour Party politican of De Pijp neighbourhood told 24oranges that this entire incident will be discussed in the next city district council meeting.

(Link)

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April 4, 2007

In your face advertising

Filed under: General by Orangemaster @ 4:45 pm
Heinekenplein

Until April 6, the Marie Heinekenplein in Amsterdam will feature a forest of adverts from the firm JC Decaux, which have been placed there for a contest. Nevermind the fact that the neighborhood ‘freaked out’ as soon as they saw this ‘visual assault’ on their otherwise nice square, 24oranges was called up and told to go and see for themselves.

I suppose you too can vote for the best advert in the hopes of winning a trip to Paris.

(Photo: Natasha, Tip: SM)

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