I live at the fringe of an upwelling that is called College Hill. All the roads across it inevitably have to go up or down; it’s a simple fact of nature. As I was driving down from the top of College Hill just now, on a street I take very often (to the nearest hardware store), one third of the way down I suddenly noticed this brand new sign: HILL . Right; I’m on a hill, and I haven’t reached bottom yet. Thank you, City of Eugene Public Works Department, for informing me of that. But unfortunately, this sign is directly contributing to a phenomena that has been well documented for over a decade or more: the more street signs there are, the more they all get ignored, even the important ones. So some cities have taken to tearing them all down, with surprising results.
This is not an anti-government rant; it’s not as simple as that, as in most things in life. It would require a drastic change of thinking to reverse course, and tear down all street signs, and even traffic lights. Yet it’s been done, or is increasingly being done in Europe, by a more enlightened approach to traffic regulation.
Drachten, in the Netherlands, was one of the first to ditch all its traffic lights, almost ten years ago. There are numerous of reports (here, here, and here) on the “naked streets” movement that has been espoused by a number of Dutch, German and British cities. The premise is pretty simple: in lieu of being told what to do like sheep, folks will actually pay more attention to what needs to be done, and do it, using their own judgement and socially interacting with others sharing the road. A novel concept indeed.
Here’s a five minute video of what happened in one British town when they killed their street lights. Residents couldn’t believe the difference it made. The busy intersection now carried more traffic, with no more waiting for lights.
Getting back to ordinary traffic signs, I’ve noticed that in response to the over-dose syndrome, the Public Works Department is adding additional orange diamonds to some existing traffic signs, in the hopes that folks will actually notice the more important ones among all the clutter that they’ve created. This sign shown here is not a typical example from town, but it’s all I could find on the web just now. And then the next escalation is signs with flashing LED bulbs; I’m seeing more of those now. Traffic sign inflation; where does it end?
The extraneous road signs can be explained by considering two factors:
First is local politicians responding to calls from local residents, such calls often making no sense but having some sort of sign put up makes the voter happy and politicians like happy voters who remember them on election day. The hill sign above could be a good example of this: one could theorize that Aunt Mabel from out of town was once surprised by the hill as she talked on a cell phone and her niece badgered the local township to mark this occasion with a new sign. Neighborhood busy bodies are also responsible for a lot of this.
Second is the potential amount of political contributions which can occur when large purchase orders are let for signs, posts, and private sector contractor installation. (In Illinois these new regulations can be grouped under the heading of “gimme bills”) A potential example of this is the appearance of new tenth of a mile markers on Interstate Highways. When one needs assistance one no longer has to say “I am on I94 SB between Rt 120 entrance and Rt 60”, just because it worked for almost 60 years doesn’t mean the government can’t spend more money so you can tell the tow truck operator that “I am at 65.20 marks SB on I 94”.
“Traffic sign inflation”. Here in Quebec, we go also road signs for off-road vehicules for quads and snowmobiles.
On the other hand, less signs, less pleasure for those who photograph some road signs like these ones on A-10 linking Sherbrooke and Montreal. 😉
http://www.alpsroads.net/roads/qc/a-10/
From BetterThanEnglish.com
Schilderwald (German)
Said when a place or street is crowded with so many unnecessary road signs that you don’t know how to behave, or simply become lost.
Hadn’t heard of the BetterThanEnglish site, have had a look through and it’s fantastic! Thanks for sharing!
Schilderwald: excellent. Maybe that’s why the movement started in that part of the world. Great site, btw.
That’s perfect! So German.
My experience inside the USA is that there are too many me me me and screw everybody else type of vile scum to make a lack of traffic regulating devices a viable option.
In my worthless opinion this is 100% correct.
“What’s yer sign?”
Paul, you have hit on such a hot button of mine. Considering I’m already torqued about other things, I’m not sure how this is going to end….
I worked in Traffic Safety for a number of years. Never a fan of “more is better” in regards to signing, I often refused giving people signs. For example…
One day, there was a request for a sign saying “Peacock Crossing”. My response was to state this was an open invitation to the local practitioners of vandalism. As the person didn’t see my point, I told them to let their mind wander a bit. Such a sign was never installed as they quickly got my point.
The infamous “School Bus Stop Ahead” signs. Once when a person requested one, I asked them how long their drive to work was – it was about four miles. I asked them how many speed limit signs were on their drive. Not able to answer, they saw my point about the questionable need of such a device because, as stated above, it blends into the background after you see it twice.
“Oh, good heavens, somebody ran that stop sign…we need a signal light!” My observation was if a person cannot see a 3’x3′ stop sign they will sure as hell struggle to see a 12″ red signal indication. But I’ve also been accused of being jaded.
Al, in the first comment, does bring up a compelling point on the mile markers. However, working from an incident response angle, they are a worthy tool. “Between Rt 120 and Rt 60” isn’t very descriptive when such a segment could be 10 miles long and there is a fatality wreck blocking both lanes. It is also problematic to drivers unfamiliar with the area as such routes likely mean nothing to them. 0.1 mile increments is pushing it, I agree; you only need to be able to see one with your headlights, so 0.2 or 0.25 mile increments would cut down on sign pollution and still get the same end result.
Yes, we have too many signs. A lot of that depends upon the local jurisdiction. I’ve been thinking of relocating (again) and the Netherlands is sounding pretty nice right now – other than the cold weather during the winter!
Jason,
Between Routes 120 and 60 isn’t that far, but it is a bit of info only a Chicagoan (or in Al’s and my case, former Chicagoans) would know. Chicago is a different place as to traffic as many of our expressways/tollways have names (Kennedy/Reagan/Ike) so if your not familiar with the names, the traffic report can be pretty useless.
I have a feeling ,in a not so distant future , cars will be assisting drivers in city surroundings , scanning constantly at set controlled maximum speeds .
When I read that “street lights” had been removed, I wondered why pedestrians preferred darker sidewalks. Then I watched the video– they took out the traffic lights.
Nuts to that; it’s too nuts. Driving at slow, unsignaled four-way stops on residential streets, I’m no longer surprised how the driver on the right seldom claims their proper right of way. Left turns dominate, as drivers on a through course demonstrate their conspicuous courtesy. Just a few blocks away, the higher speed arterial intersections operate by a starkly different set of rules. Additional risk comes from the prevalence of front window tinting, which hides face-to-face recognition between drivers. So I don’t think todays’ American drivers are ready to mingle freely at crowded intersections, like the UK example here.
My bad; traffic lights it is.
My favorites are two signs I see in California:
– Road Changed Ahead
– Winter Conditions Ahead
The first is useless if you don’t know what the road was like before, and without any time context. Changed since when? Since before the sign was installed 3 years ago, or since the last time I drove by 20 minutes ago?
As for the second, what winter conditions? Clear blue skies and all the wet leaves blown off the road? A white-out blizzard? Or merely Canadians in RVs? (I’m in Calidornia). BTW this invariably one of those flashing LED signs.
The equivalent to the first sign in Virginia is “New traffic pattern ahead.”
On the “hill” sign, just why does this waste of money need to exist?! Hath humans no common sense anymore?!
We do have some of this in the United States. In Seattle, stop signs are rare in residential neighborhoods. Most intersections of residential roads are unregulated, and people are just expected to drive carefully. And it works. It has the added benefit of slowing down traffic, since one needs to approach intersections with caution, and it eliminates the jackrabbiting between stop signs that’s endemic in neighborhoods like mine in Virginia (which has 4-way stops at every intersection).
In Seattle many residential nabes have traffic calming measures like round concrete slabs in the middle of intersections called traffic circles. It forces you to slow way down to drive around the slab.
I just came back from 3 days in Houston, first time I had been there. All over the Houston freeways there are signs that say something like “State Law — Obey All Posted Signs.” In other words, they have signs telling you to pay attention to the other signs.
Soon to be followed with: “Obey All Posted Signs Telling You To Obey All Posted Signs”
On a related note, the small city where I work has replaced two intersections, controlled by traffic lights, with roundabouts. Sure there are yield signs, but it takes some discretion to decide whether one needs to yield or not. Those roundabouts handle more traffic in a given period of time, and there are fewer accidents.
Another possible explanation might be municipal fear of lawsuits by accident victims. This is why one sees warnings all over home appliances now. The point is not so much getting people to notice them (for those few folks who take the trouble to read usage instructions aren’t the ones to worry about), but to cover themselves in the event of a lawsuit for negligence.
I sure slow down for unmarked intersections, so that idea does have merit.
A Traffic School instructor had this advice, ”Assume that all other drivers are idiots, & traffic engineers are morons.”
There are several good ideas but this one fits the best in my opinion. Traffic signs are cheap compared to lawsuits. If someone loses control of their car going down that hill that they did not realize was there, they may decide to sue the city, or whatever entity appropriate. Sadly, there are plenty of lawyers willing to take on such cases. And even more sadly, today’s judges and juries don’t always (perhaps seldom) make logical decisions. Remember, someone sued a fast food restaurant a while back for serving them hot coffee that was too hot.
It is as useful as this sign…
Oops, here’s the pic…
Awesome….you know someone genious probably did sit on that fence though 🙂
… and then sued the property owner for pain and suffering after being ‘violated’ by the fence.
There is a segment of the population who feel that it is their God given right to do whatever they want unless it is explicitly posted not to do so- regardless of the wisdom of such an act. This group also believe it is the duty of the collective society to ensure their safety from themselves, while not extending that courtesy to their fellow human beings.
People don’t want ‘big gobbimmint’ telling them what to do, but are the first to seek to blame the state and state actors for failing to create a bubble packed world to keep them and their precious children safe, often from themselves. Signed, a social worker.
One of my favorite photos of my sons is of them sitting on a wall next to a sign reading “DO NOT SIT ON WALL.”
While not completely on topic….signs like this really irritate me. I guess North Carolinians are now too stupid to read “School Bus Stop Ahead” so they are being replaced with “Pitcher Time”. Arggh.
pitcher time??
Are we drinking on the road again???
We got a sign more or less similar for school bus stop ahead in rural areas here in Quebec as well.
We’ve just gotten these in Virginia in the last half year or so. They caught my eye, as any new sign will.
For the significant population that cannot read english…
Two signs that really annoy me: “Slippery when wet.” No kidding! And if this particular spot is especially slippery, how about coarsening the pavement?
Then there’s “Bridges may be icy” — at every single overpass and minor stream crossing — I’m looking at you Pennsylvania! Then to add insult to injury, the signs are not hinged, so they’re visible the entire year, a real laugh in 90+ degree summer weather!
Another related peeve: Why do warning signs almost always use feet as the unit of measurement, as in “Road Work 500 feet ahead”? Odometers read in tenths of miles, so why not “1/10 mile ahead” or “0.1 mile ahead”? (500 feet is close enough to 0.1 miles.) This wouldn’t be as big a deal in Canada, which uses the metric system.
Good points. AZ also has such bridge warnings (it does get below freezing in the Sonoran Desert), again probably due to fear of liability suits. But shouldn’t this be common knowledge disseminated by Driver’s Training courses? That’s the whole point of licensing, that licensees should be knowledgeable enough not to be surprised by most circumstances, & road ice surely qualifies as vital course information. If they crash, the court could then say, “Well, you should’ve learned that in class.”
Now you’re treading on thin ice (hah) … as a motorcyclist, I do appreciate the sparing use of ICY signs here in coastal California, where roads are generally clear year-around, but some shaded, North-facing turns may have frost for extended periods even if daytime temps are well above freezing. Agree it’s unnecessary on bridges in Pennsylvania though.
Sort of like what you see in the woods when snow stays longer on the ground where it’s always shaded. But at least one can see that. OTOH, black ice is a major problem. As you said, maybe a few signs are OK there.
Hwy 1 is a fun drive when no RVs are in the way, & scenic when they are. In good weather, I found the light/shade transitions in the forested areas hard on the eyes.
Can you say “clutter?”
My favorite sign is the one that says “Slow Children at Play”. Often true. Even aside from the wordplay, do we really need a sign? Either there are really no kids playing, so the sign is not true, or there are children playing and we are supposed to be watching the sign instead of the kids. And, by implication, can I rely on the lack of such a sign as a warranty that there are no children playing?
The road I grew up on had a “Deaf Child In Area” sign. In the 12 years I lived there I never knew or even heard of any deaf kids around. We moved to a different neighborhood in 1988, but my Grandfather still lives on that street. I know the sign was still there in the mid ’90’s. Next time I’m there I’ll have to see if it has finally been taken down.
Yes, we have some of those signs around too. They always make me imagine a conversation like this: “Wouldn’t this be a lovely home for your family. Oh wait – you have a deaf child? Sorry, but we have another neighborhood where you will have to move. It’s for everyone’s safety.”
Great post, Paul! Here’s a recent article from the “Atlantic” magazine that talks about this topic…http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/07/distracting-miss-daisy/306873
We get a couple of entertaining signs in the rural areas east of the Cascades. My favorite non-regulatory sign is “Litter cleanup by the Beef For Dinner Group”.
On the regulatory signs, we have a couple spots where the “Congestion” sign shows. One is on a rural (lightly traveled, flat, but with some killer turns) byway near a big ranch. (near the beef sign…) They load/unload cattle twice a year, but otherwise, nuthin’. At least it’s not open range, so few cattle show up on the roadway.
The second instance of this is as one is approaching the town of Bonanza (pop 700 or so) along OR 70. There are already speed limit and speed reduction signs.
San Jose has a busy street with a serious S turn (Bird, just east of Willow Glen) where if you missed the turn, you could hit a house. One year they tried a windmill-twirly flasher reflector to draw attention. I think it lasted a week before getting stolen or taken down.
I have seen one or two 13 mph speed limit signs in some areas. The odd speed gets a little attention. One was in front of a school on a very flat, very fast highway (alt 89 in Arizona, near Paulden).
Note on the 13 mph sign–it was used only when the crossing guards were out.
Regarding “slow children at play”: does this imply that the children playing are slow? Poor kids.
The same thought crosses my mind when the homeowners’ association placed such a sign in my neighborhood. They didn’t use a proper diamond-shaped warning sign, but bought a dime-store variety that’s rectangular with decal letters.
Someone removed the “S” at some point, although it was replaced later.
I spent quite a few days concreting signs in for local contractors planting useless roadsigns like corner warnings halfway thru a nice twisty section stupid signs stating the bleeding obvious waste of time definitely but my hourly rate didnt change its just wet concrete no matter where it gets poured
I like the warning signs on the Texas Interstates, which warn of “Guardrail Damage Ahead”. I’ve concluded that the signs were cheaper than actually repairing the guardrail damage.
As to the “Slow Children At Play” signs, I remember my father once placing the 55 Imperial into neutral and revving the engine, and mischievously saying, “OK, bring them on, lets see if I can speed them up a bit.”
Where we live, we have signs on the side of the road that inexplicably say “Star Spangled Banner.” I seriously lost points on my driver’s test because I was unable to identify the sign we just passed… it was that one. I’m at least proud to know I ignored it because it was stupid.
Ah, the best road signs are speed limits. You are on a four lane highway. A small semi hidden notice drops the speed limit by 15 or plus mph for no real reason and just after that you discover a police car or two. Looking at you my fine southern friends.
One of the dumbest signs I can recall were back on family vacations in the late ’80s and early ’90s. On the Interstate there would be “Bump Ahead” signs, and then, once we came upon the bump itself, was ANOTHER bump sign–with an arrow! We would see them all the time on Interstates in IA, IL, IN, WI and MI. It got to be a joke in the car: “Look, another “Bump” sign! How handy!” Then we’d all laugh.
I should mention that these were done in pairs–one for the travel lane, and one for the passing lane. Presumably there were two more on the other side of the highway for cars going the other way. What a waste of money!
I haven’t seen any in years–thankfully.
Also, I’ve always been a little insulted by “Deaf Child” signs in residential areas. Deaf doesn’t mean stupid. And without your hearing, you are much more in tune with your surroundings, visually speaking.
In Indianapolis we’re trying to become more bike friendly. I support that! But when they repaved the road outside my subdivision last year, they erected “Share the Road” signs every 100 feet. Seriously, as you drive down that road you see them all stretched out in a neat row for as far as the eye can see. It’s ridiculous!
My favorite one is one seen on some rural roads “Trees near road”, which usually indicates the presence of large trees 7 feet or less from the road. Not only is this fact readily apparent without reading the sign a hundred yards up the road, I’m not entirely clear what they want you to do in response? Not run into the trees? Ok, I’m glad they told me that…
Silliness, of course. But as with condescending warnings in instruction manuals, silly signs probably wouldn’t be there if something hadn’t already happened to compromise the finances of someone important.
I don’t think the US will be ready for a ‘naked streets’ movement until it adopts similarly stringent standards to earn and keep a driver’s license, and offers a realistic public transport alternative for those who opt not to.
I just learned that another name for this is “Shared Space,” in case anyone wants to search for more about it. It’s applied Risk Compensation.
The worst signage offense I’ve seen more and more are the gigantic LED billboards that are put right up against I-5 in Western Washington. They are blindingly bright and super distracting especially at night. Hates them.