%0 Journal Article
%T Unravelling hieroglyphs : Urban traffic signs and the League of Nations
%A Frank Schipper
%J M¨¦tropoles
%D 2009
%I M¨¦tropoles
%X Cet article porte sur les enjeux de signalisation routi¨¨re pendant l'entre-deux-guerres. Il esquisse d'abord la relation souvent difficile entre l'automobile et la ville d'une part et la soci¨¦t¨¦ en g¨¦n¨¦ral. Il revient sur le r le de la signalisation routi¨¨re dont la mise en place a contribu¨¦ ¨¤ encadrer ces rapports. ¨¤ la veille de la Premi¨¨re Guerre Mondiale, des milliers de panneaux d¨¦corent d¨¦j¨¤ les routes europ¨¦ennes. Depuis la guerre, la nouvelle Soci¨¦t¨¦ des Nations r¨¦ussit ¨¤ s'accaparer les discussions sur la signalisation routi¨¨re au d¨¦but des ann¨¦es 1920, puis commence ses travaux sur la signalisation routi¨¨re sp¨¦cifiquement urbaine ¨¤ partir de 1926. La Conf¨¦rence Europ¨¦enne sur le Trafic Routier en 1931 est le sommet de ce mouvement. Le syst¨¨me n'a pas chang¨¦ fondamentalement depuis. A l'inverse des propositions des repr¨¦sentants urbains, la SdN n¡¯est cependant pas devenue le coordinateur central des probl¨¨mes de signalisation routi¨¨re. L¡¯article conclut par nuancer la qualification des panneaux routiers comme des hi¨¦roglyphes par le journaliste fran ais Baudry de Saunier en 1931. This article discusses road traffic signs in the Interwar years. The article first sketches the often difficult relationship between the car and the city and society at large. It proposes road signs were introduced in part to mitigate this antagonistic relation. On the eve of the First World War thousands of signs already adorned European roads. After the war the new League of Nations managed to seize discussions on road signs in the early 1920s, and started to work on specifically urban road signs from 1926 onwards. The European Conference on Road Traffic in 1931 formed the apex of this development. The system has not fundamentally changed since. Contrary to the proposal of urban representatives, the League did not, however, become the supreme arbiter of traffic signs. The article concludes by nuancing a 1931 qualification of traffic signs as ¡®hieroglyphs¡¯ by the French journalist Baudry de Saunier.
%K Road Safety
%K international organisations
%K League of Nations
%K traffic signs
%K urban traffic
%K s¨¦curit¨¦ routi¨¨re
%K circulation urbaine
%K organisations internationaux
%K signalisation routi¨¨re
%K Soci¨¦t¨¦ des Nations
%U http://metropoles.revues.org/4062