It was several years ago & I can't exactly remember which railway publication it was (I think it was possibly Rail & in the stop & examine column??) where it featured a photo where the powers that be had overdone it with the safety signs.
The gist of the article was that the original safety sign had just become lost amongst the many other safety signs that had since been added & added & added....there was just that many that they had all lost their impact & had thus become useless.
The example was something like the original sign being......
'Passengers must not cross the line.....Except by means of the footbridge'......then there had been others added that were like..
'Keep left whilst using the footbridge'
'Customers must hold the handrail whilst using the footbridge'
'Parents are advised to hold their child's hand whilst using the footbridge'
'Samaritans sign'
'Wet floor sign/beware uneven surface'
'Customers are advised to purchase a valid ticket before boarding the train'
'No smoking or vaping anywhere on these premises'
'Customers are advised not to run whilst on the station'
'Keep back behind the yellow line...(passing trains cause air turbulence)'
There seems to be a trend these days of providing a warning sign for anything & everything just in case ...& in the event of anything & everything going wrong & perhaps a law suit kicking off then the powers that be can say..'there was a sign there to warn you', but in reality too many signs may have the opposite effect/information overload, with the end result being that they don't get read & just make the place untidy.
Common sense just doesn't seem to prevail anymore.
Going overboard with all these often pointless signs can sometimes have a direct negative impact on more important things...for example..
I was working in the north west in the mid 1990s, it was 1996 & the Euro 96 football tournament was on, I was on call & had a call out to investigate a signal sighting complaint where a driver complained that a signal could not be seen.
On arrival in the area I checked the approach to the signal & made an immediate discovery that a large sign denoting 'EMERGENCY EXIT >>(& it also had some reference to Euro 96 crowd overspill)' had been erected at the western end of the station platform immediately slap bang about 10 feet right in front of the signal with the sign thus blocking the signal head (& in particular the red aspect)
.
Needless to say the sign was immediately removed & my report submitted, from what can remember it was erected/placed there by outside contractors who were something to do with Euro 96 crowd control.
Obscuring a railway signal with a safety sign.
Oh dear. safety signs etc....you can have too much of a good thing.
Too many signs and bollards 'are disfiguring our streets' | Daily Mail Online