If road signs reflected actual driver behavior · 1:10pm Mar 7th, 2017
Slow Down By No More Than Two Miles Per Hour, Then Gun It Around The Corner
Accelerate In Order To Prevent Incoming Traffic From Merging Into Your Lane
Chance To Run Other Drivers Off The Road And Onto The Shoulder Ahead
Go At Least Twenty Miles Per Hour Faster Than This Number
No Signaling Lane Changes: Next Seventy Years
All Left Turns Are To Be Made From The Center Lane, Or The Right Lane, Or Any Lane You Like, Really, Except The Left One, Because That Would Just Be Stupid
Construction Zone Ahead: All Violations And Fines Ignored
People With The Common Sense To Ignore Handicapped Signs Parking Only
Come To A Complete Lack Of Stop At This Sign Or Optionally, Accelerate Some More
Double Parking Encouraged Because Hey, It's Really The Other Guy's Fault For Not Letting You Have That Spot
U-Turn: Anywhere!
The Left Lane Is For Breaking The Sound Barrier Only
Fire Hydrant Space Reserved For Your Exclusive Use
Hidden Driveway Area: Anything You Hit Is Therefore Not Your Responsibility
Was There Something On This Sign? I Was Too Busy Texting To Read It
Children At Play: Aim Carefully
Friend of ours had a sign : Tow Zone
It was in front of his store. People didn't believe it. He educated them. They are smarter now. And poorer.
Reminds me of a relative that owns a service garage.
He has a big sign outside.
Open Pit. Enter at own risk.
Someone wasnt watching what they were doing, and drove into it. It was their fault.
You think you have it bad? There's a fastest route from A to B here. During said route, there's a very brief stay on a state highway. You enter said highway on the left. The exit you want to take is about 100 yards farther down. On the right. It's a 4 lane change away. It's BUILT IN to the system. Add to that you've got both New York AND Massachusetts drivers here...yeah. Surprised there are fewer wrecks there.
Yep. This matches up with my own experience pretty well. Especially the left lane sound barrier problem, what exactly compels people to drive 65 in the 45 zone and then get shitty with me when I'm already pushing 55? It's like they're trying to climb in my car with me sometimes.
No Parking Except For You Because You're More Special Than Anyone Else And Besides No One Uses Sidewalks
Yes, Estee. So much yes.
I am a great believer that road safety would be greatly improved (after a short, sharp period of... adjustment) by the addition of violation- targeting rocket-launchers and thus ensuring the violator only does so... ONCE.
Especially for people who park in disabled spaces (given that both my Mum and Nanny are disabled).
When I am required to take the wheel (something I do not do for choice), I am one of those people who WILL follow the actual rules (especially for speed limits) and no, I DO NOT CARE how annoyed you get behind me, chap, if the motorway speed restriction says 50 because roadworks, I will be DOING 50 (as a maximum).
Lanes Merge Ahead. Pass Others While You Still Can.
No Right on Red if Anyone's Looking
Never Yield
We actually have that last one in Tennessee. Most slow down just to read it.
Left Lane
DRIVE SPEED LIMIT ONLY!
4446627 Got an on-ramp in Topeka you should try sometime. I-70 traffic is doing 65+ on a sweeping left turn. The on-ramp is *two* merged streams of traffic from Hallmark, on a steep uphill slope, so you have to floor the gas to get anywhere near merging speed. Said uphill slope also eliminates any possibility of seeing what the incoming I-70 traffic is like, or if there's a hole. The merge area is about two seconds long, and if the car that went up before you didn't see a hole in traffic, they had to *park* in the merge area while you're looking over your left shoulder at the 70mph maniacs making that long, sweeping left turn, going from accelerating to locking up the brakes to keep from knocking *him* out into traffic and getting killed.
i.gyazo.com/24fd35a4c3b9df47996619429dbf3667.png
To add indignity to it all, there's a 'Yield' sign on the on-ramp. It should say 'Yield And Die Quickly.' I found out about it when I had to work in Topeka for a few weeks at my job. After my first two attempts at the on-ramp each almost got me killed, I diverted to another on-ramp about a mile down the road for all subsequent trips.
4446724
Jeeze, that sucks. And I thought I had it bad just driving on I-85 on Fridays sometimes.
4446724
There's a fun one in Wichita (I-135 south onto K-15) that has a merge area about a second and a half long, and then to add injury to insult, requires that you merge from the left into the left lane. Just a PITA most of the time, at rush hour it turns into a suicide mission.
(And then there's the junction near the airport retrofitted into such a small space that the on-ramps are at something close to a 40 degree angle. The year I came here, I encountered those for the first time in midwinter, with heavy icing. That was... fun.)
Out where I live, people will triple park . . . somehow.
I think I found you a new job:
michaelpaulonline.com/mzmedia/real_time_new_rules_041808.jpg
4446781 The Wichita interstates are bad, but Dallas really needs a sign over theirs that lights up around 8 and 5 every day:
Abandon Hope All Who Enter Within
reminds me of an old quote: someone asked a little kid what the colors on a traffic light, and he replied:
"green means go,
red means stop,
and yellow means go faster!"
4446840
I take offense to this! Or something.
I think it's much too optimistic to think that most drivers will do anything carefully.
Queue Across Interscetion. This drives me nuts. If traffic is backed up and you don't have enough room to fit on the other side, don't enter the intersection/roundabout. You're only going to block other traffic.
I've also been tempted to buy some old beater that I don't care about, and paint the back with the slogan "I brake for tailgaters." I wouldn't even bother to make a claim for any damages. I'd just sit and laugh at their busted up front end. Overtake me, I won't be mad. Don't ride my arse to try to get me to go faster. I'm not risking a speeding ticket because you're in a hurry.
I don't see too much crazy shit except for people on the interstate doing 55 in an 80 in the left lane. I assume that's because there's 30 fatality pileup every winter, so survival of the fittest applies.
Speed Limit Thirty-Five,
Why Even Wait?
If You're In The Left Lane,
Go A Hundred And Eight.
Burma Shave
Here in southern Ontario, there are signs posted outside some small townships which read, 'Please, drive as though your kids lived here.' I can only extrapolate that a lot of drivers really hate their children.
I'm not gonna say anything, because I'll just end up ranting about indicator lights for 15 minutes.
4446558
Yeah, I once parked in a Tow-Away Zone.
When I got back, the whole area was gone!
4446934 Every winter when it snows, we get the same thing here on four-lane roads. People in 4x4 SUVs in the dry right lane going about 45 in a 65 zone, while idiots in sports cars doing about 70 on packed snow and ice go flying by them in the left lane. It's a real test of my Christian beliefs not to feel smug a mile or two down the road when you spot the same idiot who blew past you in a flurry of slush and ice who is now sitting in the middle of the median, calling for a tow on their cell.
God i love living in the middle of nowhere canada, nothing but straightaways and the only traffic goes 110 to 120kmh as a standard.
4446911
Putting that slogan on the car means you're likely to go from laughing at their busted up front end to paying for their busted up front end, even if you braked for a perfectly legitimate but difficult to prove reason (e.g. a child ran out into the road and you managed to stop without hitting them but got rear ended).
Do yourself a favour. Don't look up Canada's Worst Driver on-line. You'll see WORSE driving if you do.
4446840
Not just a random quote: this actually happened when my mom was quizzing my younger sister, many years ago. She said yellow means "Hurry up and go!" Mom said it made her seriously rethink her driving
>Angry yelling about no clearance overtakes and lack of turn signals.
Can we have signs for pedestrians? I live in Maine. Drivers can be crazy, but technically you're supposed to stop if you see a pedestrian waiting to use a crosswalk, and they don't ticket jaywalkers--I've had conflicting accounts from different Mainers about whether jaywalking laws are even on the book here. Some of the worst behavior: a pedestrian crossed (admittedly during a walk sign) with his head buried in a newspaper (not even peripheral vision left) on one of the busiest city streets in the state; a group of pedestrians stepped off the sidewalk as our van drove by and nearly smacked into the side of our vehicle (I thought only deer were that dumb); one mother wanted traffic to stop so she could cross, so she stuck the stroller she was pushing, WITH KID STILL INSIDE, into the road so drivers would see and stop.
4447054
It's not hard to know when you need to slow down. I mean, I drive an '04 Tahoe with no front wheel drive left, and that fucker rocks in the snow. That being said, people are really dumb sometimes. Background for the example:
[youtube=https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7qw7MkteNDE&feature=youtu.be]
You don't see it in the video, but the adaptive speed limit was down to fifteen and some guy in a prius flew past doing about 50 with a semi on his ass.
Edit: I can't get an embed link on this phone. I might fix it later.
"Boss level"
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/58/Magic_Roundabout_Schild_db.jpg/640px-Magic_Roundabout_Schild_db.jpg
I'm confused!!
howwedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/stop-dont-stop-small.jpg
While I agree with the spirit of your current blog entry, I must make a comment:
As both a cyclist and a dude who was taught to drive by a PhD physiscist, I must tell you that it makes perfect sense to slow down before entering a turn, then press the gas as you go around. It improves your grip.
That said, don't do it on a busy street, unless you are a cyclist. If you are driving a car, do it only in the highway, or on very low traffic conditions and with very good visibility.
Pet peeve one here: "The left lane is not for passing, it's for pulling up alongside the nearest guy in the lane to the right, then carefully matching their speed."
If I had a big flashing orange sign on top of my car that said "thou shalt pass, not pace!", I'd get a lot of use out of it.
While I commend the fact that you've read the road signs, you've sadly missed the small text that all of your signs possess.
Except for you.
I went to Pittsburgh PA last year. They have these wonderful highway entrance ramps there that have a STOP sign at the end of them, then you floor it for maybe a second and a half while praying there isn't anyone coming around the curve behind you (because you can't see anyways).
Also doubly fun when you're in a pickup with a trailer, so your total rig is about 3 times longer and heavier than a car. Honestly I was treating the stop as a light yeild just so I'd have some speed when my lane ended.