There is a whole engineering field devoted to roadsigns. Part of that concerns itself with the balance between signs which are strong enough to stand up to high winds and yet not so strong as to cause extra injuries to vehicle occupants when a collision occurs.
(It’s disgraceful, by the way, that motorcyclists seem to have been already written off in connection with this analysis).
Anyway, today’s invention is a new form of roadsign. Instead of the solid flat plate on the left, it takes to form of a box structure with a round rectangle cross-section (This new design could be made of much thinner material than the flat plate, of course).
In return for less than 20% more material used, roadsigns can thus reduce their need to withstand wind loading by about 20%.
This means that the supports for these signs can be 20% weaker and therefore 20% less dangerous to motorists of every kind.
