arrows pointing upwards

In the Netherlands, currently all the blue traffic signs, above freeways, with arrows pointing downwards, will be replaced by signs with arrows pointing upwards. Tests have been done using these new signs and it has been shown “that the average speed increases up to ten kilometers per hour and that the traffic jams decrease a half hour earlier and that the road users feel better informed,” said one of the news sites. In many other countries, these signs already apply. Traffic psychologists point out that drivers become calmer with these instructions. For the human brain it is the logical and intuitive that an arrow pointing upwards, refers to the destination. Such research results do not surprise me. A man becomes quieter as he is directed upwards. Our brain is made so that we interpret this as our destination. Whether or not it has been studied, I don’t know, but I would not be startled, if the sky-blue-color of the signs even strengthens this effect. People are made to look upwards. “The head upwards, the heart up high.” The Greek word for human is an-thro-pos (think, for example of anthropology), and this word is composed of three elements: ana (= up), thrope (= turn) and optomai (= look). Anthropos means, an upward-facing viewer. There is enough in the world that depresses us. Therefore, arrows pointing upwards are very important. Everybody is on a journey. To more quickly and easier find our destiny, we need to be directed upwards. We then not only feel ourselves better informed, we are it, too!

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