A great improvement of road signs in Shenzhen could be seen in the near future as new national road sign standards would come out this year, an official said Wednesday.

The statement by Yi Fei, an official with the road management department under the Municipal Traffic Police Bureau, came as more residents complained about the road signs throughout the city.

Many citizens, including some newcomers to the city, have complained that some road signs are not clear enough, with some even misleading to drivers, especially at some flyovers.

A taxi driver surnamed Lu said he was confused during his first three days in the city although he had maps and read road signs carefully.

"I could see many road signs pointing toward the Shennan Thoroughfare along Xinzhou Road but found no road sign when I arrived at an intersection," said Lu. "After going straight through the intersection, I read a road sign and found out that turning right was the way to the Shennan Thoroughfare West, which was the opposite direction of my destination."

"Sometimes it's difficult for me to read the road signs because I can't read Chinese," said Filipino Benny Respecia who has had two years' driving experience in Shenzhen.

"We need more English translations on the road signs, especially the names of the places," said Respecia. He said not all public signs in the city carried English translations, or pinyin.

Respecia also suggested that more English signs be erected at the gas stations.

Road signs within the special economic zone were systematically designed in 1997, Yi said. However, due to the constant road construction and repair, it had been difficult to maintain the road sign system. Besides, many trees had grown to block some road signs, which also brought complains from residents.

Of all the problems regarding road signs, people stealing signs caused the most serious havoc, said Yi.

Thieves are stealing public signs faster than they can be replaced. The stolen aluminium-made road sign plates were mostly sold to scrap metal dealers for 5 yuan (US$0.6) per kilogram, said Yi.

"To crack down on road sign stealers, the government has mobilized all departments concerned to stay alert," Yi said.

(Shenzhen Daily April 1, 2005)