Dan Gross/The Gazette A slash on signs opposing widening Longdraft Road slants the wrong way based on international standards.

Along the 1.2-mile stretch of Longdraft Road between Quince Orchard and Clopper roads, the Longdraft Road Coalition doesn't care either way.

Members of the coalition, who oppose a county proposal to widen Longdraft Road from two lanes to four, purchased 100 14- by 22-inch signs to put in members' yards, something that would make a "great visual impact," Saqib Ali, coalition co-chair, said.

The coalition discussed the signs for a good part of a two-hour meeting earlier this year: How long they could put the signs up in their yards? Which members live on county land and which on city land, and how do those sign restrictions differ? Can the signs go in windows, and if so, for how long?

But the direction of the slash? No, that just didn't quite sneak its way into the conversation.

When the signs went up, a caller to The Gazette questioned whether they were accurate.

Even Dan Banks, president of the Washington chapter of the American Institute for Graphic Artists, was off the mark at first blush.

By "the American-European way of reading," he guessed, the slash should go from upper right to lower left.

But a quick check of AIGA and federal transportation department databases revealed that, in fact, the slash should go the other way ­ upper left to lower right.

Amused by his brief graphics-related goose chase, Banks pointed out the importance of standardizing signs and symbols, especially ones that circulate internationally.

And has the slash-slant snafu put the coalition's momentum on the skids?

"We never gave it much thought and don't think that is relevant," Ali wrote in an e-mail. "What is relevant is that hundreds of residents are galvanized to keep Longdraft a nice quiet neighborhood road where families feel comfortable jogging, walking their dogs, etc."