Standards Australia (www.standards.com.au) operates as a private not-for-profit organisation to establish benchmarks for products and services to enhance quality of life and industry efficiency in Australia. Committees made up of experts from industry, governments, user groups and other sectors prepare Australian Standards reflecting latest scientific and industry experience. These are under continuous review after publication and are updated when necessary to take into account changing technology.

Committee MS/12, Road Signs and Traffic Signals, prepares the Manual of uniform traffic control devices, a series of 14 Standards dealing with all aspects of road signage. Part 5 of this series, AS1742.5, Street name and community facility name signs, deals with the street name blades found on urban and suburban street corners. It was last updated in 1997.

StreetSigns has made numerous submissions to Committee MS/12 for the correction of deficiencies in the Standard, many of which are noted on this web site. Some are obvious flaws, such as the ignoring of property numbers on the opposite side of a street. Some are oversights, such as the treatment given sign location. Some are entirely new, such as wedge notation and the Lifesaver formats. An amendment to AS1742.5—1997 containing a kerb numbering standard was slated for publication in 2000 but Standards has decided not to proceed with the amendment in favour of a total rewrite of AS1742.5

David Freeman, Projects Manager of Committee MS/12, says such a rewrite is at least 2-3 years away. One reason for the delay is so Standards can assess councils’ reception of Lifesaver Plan initiatives. Mr Freeman says Lifesaver signs and wedge notation will be accepted by the Committee for inclusion in the Standard, but only after widespread acceptance. This means councils must use them before they are formally endorsed by Standards Australia.

Mr Freeman says wedge notation could be seen as being primarily "for" the emergency services but available for the public to use if they wish.

StreetSigns maintains that, like words in a dictionary, Lifesaver initiatives will eventually earn a place in the Standard through use. Lifesaver formats and wedge notation are so new it may take several editions for the Standard to formally incorporate them. StreetSigns is convinced this will happen, because Australian road users will increasingly recognise them as best practice.

In the meantime: Councils—the ball is in your court.