Once I was in Maine on I-95. I saw a sign in a distance with rather small letters. I kept staring at it trying to figure out what's on it. When I passed by it, it read:
"Concentrate On Your Driving"
-- doug.
***************************************** Douglas Hok-Chung Tsang h...@lems.brown.edu
At mine unworthiness, that dare not offer What I desire to give, and much less take What I shall die to want *****************************************
>In article <CJ454G....@northshore.ecosoft.com> kes...@northshore.ecosoft.com (Jeff A. Kester) writes:
>>How `bout: >> HIGHWAY ENDS >> 500 FEET
Is this really all that unusual?...
In article <1994Jan4.183051.22...@dale.ksc.nasa.gov> mcra...@dale.ksc.nasa.gov (Mark Crafts) writes:
>A friend and I were doing some exploring one night near Edisto Island, SC. >There's lots of dirt roads around, so we got used to seeing signs that >said "Road Ends 500 Feet" at which point the pavement would end and it >would continue on as a dirt road.
>Well, we were driving along, saw the familiar sign and kept going. >... >Whereupon it dropped down about 15 feet into a saltwater river!
This proves the danger of imprecise signs! I hope the SC DOT takes note.
Here in NC, when a paved road becomes a dirt or gravel road, the sign says "PAVEMENT ENDS". This is quite a different thing than "ROAD ENDS" or "HIGHWAY ENDS", so it's important to use distinct signs for each of the two situations.
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Bob Goudreau Data General Corporation goudr...@dg-rtp.dg.com 62 Alexander Drive +1 919 248 6231 Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA
Route 2 from upstate NY to Boston which features a number of 'deer' signs also features a "THICKLY SETTLED" signpost in Mass (near Erving I think). I use this road almost once a month and am yet to see anybody other than fellow motorists.
Seems they would have been able to give it a name by now :-)
********************************************************************* * The above is my personal opinion and does not reflect an opionion * * of Loral Corporation <Sterling McLane> *
jone...@crd.ge.com (Mike Jones) writes: >In article 11...@stratus.SWDC.Stratus.COM, spet...@photon.swdc.stratus.com (Scott Spetter) writes: >>My personal favorite: I-5 in San Diego: "CRUISE SHIPS USE AIRPORT EXIT"
>>I wonder what CalTrans had in mind when that one went up.
My favorite is a sign I spotted somewhere between Houston and Austin (TX) along some country road. It was suspended across the road, with six or so short lengths of pipe suspended verfically along each side of the sign. It's about 100 yards before a bridge.
IF YOU HIT THIS SIGN YOU WILL HIT THE BRIDGE
What was so funny was the sign was an absolute wreck; bent, dented, and scarred. Obviously hit many times. I don't know, maybe you had to be there, but I ended up laughing so hard I about ended up in some farmer's field.
Well, I guess this sign isn't unusual, but I still don't quite get it. It seems that on many rural W. Pennsylvania roads (and maybe in most areas for that matter) under the speed limit sign they will put another sign that says BEGIN or END. I understand the BEGIN part means that this is a new speed limit, but the END part I don't understand. OK, so this is the end of the area with speed limit XX, but what is the new limit? Is it faster or slower?
>-- >-------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- >| Richard Hyde | R...@netcom.com | This space intentionally left blank | >-------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----
The road forks on Cape Cod, and the sign says, "Provincetown, either way". Lots of accidents happen there because people can't decide. Maybe they don't believe that it really doesn't matter which way they go. -- Tom Reingold AT&T Bell Labs, Crawford Hill Facility, Holmdel, NJ, USA to...@big.att.com or att!big!tommy
On I-696 in the Detroit suburbs there is a big sign declaring CENTERLINE, to which the out-of-town motorist might legitimately respond "so what?". Locals know that Centerline, Michigan is the suburb reached from the next exit.
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Dana Bruce Kamerud, General Motors R & D Center, Warren MI 48090 (USA) | | dkame...@cmsa.gmr.com -- phone 810 986-1335 -- fax 810 986-0574 | | * ALL POSSIBLE DISCLAIMERS APPLY TO THIS MESSAGE * | +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
>Well, I guess this sign isn't unusual, but I still don't quite get it. >It seems that on many rural W. Pennsylvania roads (and maybe in most >areas for that matter) under the speed limit sign they will put another >sign that says BEGIN or END. I understand the BEGIN part means that this >is a new speed limit, but the END part I don't understand. OK, so this >is the end of the area with speed limit XX, but what is the new limit? >Is it faster or slower?
END of a posted speed limit usually means the new limit is 55. For instance, you will be driving on a 55 road, and you may come up to a town or an area with more cross traffic, and a sign will say BEGIN 40. When you are back to "open road", there will be a sign that says END 40.
It may be that END means "revert to previous posted limit", but I believe that always means 55. Personally, I'm with you, if they're going to put up an "END 40" sign, why not just put up a conventional "55" sign?
In article <2gfec6$...@hal.com> spiv...@hal.COM (Guy Richard Spivack) writes: | It may be that END means "revert to previous posted limit", | but I believe that always means 55. Personally, I'm with | you, if they're going to put up an "END 40" sign, why not | just put up a conventional "55" sign?
Vermont does this a lot too. However, since the state speed limit (for non-interstates) is 50mph, "END 40" means 50mph. So, in general, "END X" means revert to the default speed. --
: It seems that on many rural W. Pennsylvania roads (and maybe in most : areas for that matter) under the speed limit sign they will put another : sign that says BEGIN or END. I understand the BEGIN part means that this : is a new speed limit, but the END part I don't understand. OK, so this : is the end of the area with speed limit XX, but what is the new limit? : Is it faster or slower?
I think that the default speed limit on rural Pennsylvania roads is 55 MPH, so when the other speed limit "ends" (usually when you are exiting a village), it is back up to 55 again.
I don't know if it's still there or not, but there used to be a large green sign at a town line in Connecticut (along the Merritt Parkway, as I recall) which boldly proclaimed "THIS IS ORANGE."
Back in the 1970's this was once a sign on a NJ local road...
============================= | Two way lane road. | | But if today is Sunday | | its One Way. You're going | | the wrong direction. | =============================
>>Well, I guess this sign isn't unusual, but I still don't quite get it. >>It seems that on many rural W. Pennsylvania roads (and maybe in most >>areas for that matter) under the speed limit sign they will put another >>sign that says BEGIN or END. I understand the BEGIN part means that this >>is a new speed limit, but the END part I don't understand. OK, so this >>is the end of the area with speed limit XX, but what is the new limit? >>Is it faster or slower?
>END of a posted speed limit usually means the new >limit is 55. For instance, you will be driving on >a 55 road, and you may come up to a town or an area >with more cross traffic, and a sign will say BEGIN 40. >When you are back to "open road", there will be a sign >that says END 40.
>It may be that END means "revert to previous posted limit", >but I believe that always means 55. Personally, I'm with >you, if they're going to put up an "END 40" sign, why not >just put up a conventional "55" sign?
>-Guy
You may get in trouble with the assumption that the "END" sign always means return to a 55 mph limit. In many areas of the country, the speed limits are blanketly defined unless otherwise posted. In Colorado, for example, the motor vehicle code specifies that the speed limit on mountain roads is 40 mph unless otherwise posted. The implication here is that if ther is no posted limit on a mountain road, the limit is 40 mph. An END xx sign would therefore indicate a return to a 40 mph limit.
E. Michael Smith <e...@michael.apple.com (E. Michael Smith)> wrote:
> Some of the best I've seen were in other countries. New Zealand > comes to mind... 'Side Track Ahead' (ever been side-tracked before?
How many million years ago was this? I've done a far amount of driving in all parts of NZ, I've been a driver for 16 years, and I've *never* seen a sign like that.
> They use this to mean 'Detour Ahead'. And then there was the rather > cryptic to Americans 'Metaled Road' that it turns out means 'Gravel > Road' and has nothing to do with Metal at all..
Cryptic to me, too! I have never been able to figure out why some people call that stuff "metal". Perhaps it's a British-ism?
> But my favorite was the sign at the (Australian?) rail road > grade/crossing that lead me to picture a crafty train hiding in the > bushes waiting for the un-suspecting motorist: "Beware of Train" > Never know when an evil train will be looking for the unwary to > pounce upon...
We should adopt that one here. Have you heard how many level crossing crashes we've been having recently?
Actually, most of our signs are now the cryptic pictorial international ones. I don't think this is a good thing, because for visitors from overseas, different signage used to be yet another reminder of being in a different country where they drive on the other side of the road.
-- Lesley Walker The Turtle moves! \ Yamaha XV1000 (aka The Leather Goddess) \ Yamaha XV1000 Wellington, New Zealand. les...@actrix.gen.nz \ DoD#258
Bob Goudreau <goudr...@batman.rtp.dg.com (Bob Goudreau)> wrote:
> Here in NC, when a paved road becomes a dirt or gravel road, the > sign says "PAVEMENT ENDS". This is quite a different thing than > "ROAD ENDS" or "HIGHWAY ENDS", so it's important to use distinct > signs for each of the two situations.
Our equivalent sign says SEAL ENDS, or it used, last time I saw one. I always wondered how the seals got on without their ends.
-- Lesley Walker The Turtle moves! \ Yamaha XV1000 (aka The Leather Goddess) \ Yamaha XV1000 Wellington, New Zealand. les...@actrix.gen.nz \ DoD#258
>> Here in NC, when a paved road becomes a dirt or gravel road, the >> sign says "PAVEMENT ENDS". This is quite a different thing than >> "ROAD ENDS" or "HIGHWAY ENDS", so it's important to use distinct >> signs for each of the two situations.
They use "PAVEMENT ENDS" in Texas too. I come from the UK, where pavement means sidewalk. The first time I saw "pavement ends", I though "why do I care?", I soon found out!
UM->The funniest I know of was in Texas, they have a a traffic sign that says UM->"Obey all Traffic Signs" or something like that. Bit recursive don't UM->you think? A Godel sentence for sure.
i've got a better one. one night, a buddy of mine and i were driving around, and we were going down this little side street. anyways, we were abotu to turn onto a major road, and under the stop sign, there was another sign that said "speed limit 30" we both kinda went HUH? and as we got closer to it, the sign CHANGED to read no left turn. well, we backued up, and looked again, and again. finally realizing that they did an AWFUL job of reusing the previous speed limit sign.
also, here's another one. on the campus of the a college in abalama <sic> there was a sign outside the visitor's info center that was a large blue sign, with a single question mark on it. i want to go back and claim that sign for my room. :) --- . SLMR 2.1a . [*] <---- Tribble wearing headphones.
In article <CJ2HMr...@skopen.dseg.ti.com> ox...@skopen.dseg.ti.com (Gail Oxton) writes:
I like Texas' folding signs. In winter, they're open to the standard sign of "Warning Watch for Ice on Bridge", and in summer, they're closed but with a bumper sticker that says "Don't Mess With Texas", the anti-litter campaign. Even if they didn't have the bumper sticker, I like that fact that these signs close--who wants to see a warning about ice in August when it's 102 outside!
Our ice-warning signs in Indiana are visible year-round; I remember as a youngster being very confused. "Dad, why should you have to watch for ice on the bridge when it's 87 degrees?" The folding sign idea sounds neato.
--
jim grey |beebeebumbleandthestingersmottthehooplerachelsingerslonnie j...@acd4.acd.com |mackandtwangandeddiehere'smyringwe'regoingsteadytakeiteasy
In article <1994Jan4.183051.22...@dale.ksc.nasa.gov> mcra...@dale.ksc.nasa.gov (Mark Crafts) writes:
A friend and I were doing some exploring one night near Edisto Island, SC. There's lots of dirt roads around, so we got used to seeing signs that said "Road Ends 500 Feet" at which point the pavement would end and it would continue on as a dirt road.
Well, we were driving along, saw the familiar sign and kept going. As we continued it occurred to me that I couldn't see where the road went, figuring it was a dip or a downgrade, I kept going. Suddenly I realized where the road went! I stomped on the brakes and stopped about 20 feet from the end of the road. Whereupon it dropped down about 15 feet into a saltwater river! No signs other than the initial one, no barricade or anything!
This reminds me of a particularly scary thing that happened to me once on a return trip from New Jersey back to Indiana. I got very, very tired of I-70, so just after entering Ohio I dumped off onto US 40. Boy, did that ever slow me down, because that road winds through every dot on the map. I was ready to bail out of that situation, so I consulted Rand McNally, which showed an exit off 40 onto 70 where the two roads intersected oh, say, 40 miles east of Columbus. Looked good to me. Heck, it even showed that the road widened to 4 lanes a few miles ahead of the exit.
I come to an intersection. There's a sign that says, "<-- To I70", and on the other side of the intersection I see the road widen to 4 lanes. Happy to be free of the two-lane, I goosed it and was cruising at a good 70 mph. I thought it strange that I had the road to myself; no traffic in either direction. About then I noticed that all the road signs were either covered with tarps, or were blank! I was starting to become very concerned about all this when I rounded a curve and found myself staring at a hillside... into which the road abruptly ended! I slammed on the brakes. Rand McNally was wrong. 40 and 70 intersected all right, but only conceptually. 70 was built *on top of* 40. They carted in a gigantic mound of dirt, plopped it down on that section of 40, packed it down good, paved the top of it, and called it the Interstate.
The whole thing scared the beejeebees out of me.
--
jim grey |beebeebumbleandthestingersmottthehooplerachelsingerslonnie j...@acd4.acd.com |mackandtwangandeddiehere'smyringwe'regoingsteadytakeiteasy
In article <1994Jan7.044916.12...@cactus.org> bo...@cactus.org (Craig Boyle) writes:
>They use "PAVEMENT ENDS" in Texas too. I come from the UK, where >pavement means sidewalk. The first time I saw "pavement ends", >I though "why do I care?", I soon found out!
So what do Britons call the class of substances used to pave roads, if "pavement" can't be used for that purpose? Words like "asphalt", "macadam" and "concrete" all refer to specific materials; is there a British term for the class as a whole?
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Bob Goudreau Data General Corporation goudr...@dg-rtp.dg.com 62 Alexander Drive +1 919 248 6231 Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA
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