Have you ever committed sign theft?

[DaBigE]

Deep thought from a shallow mind: are you really "stealing" a sign that your money...in the form of taxes...already paid for? (I know the actual answer is "yes" but think about it for a second)

Taking that logic a step further, the police should be my personal taxi service, since after all, my taxes paid for the car and the gas.

[MNHighwayMan]

Deep thought from a shallow mind: are you really "stealing" a sign that your money...in the form of taxes...already paid for? (I know the actual answer is "yes" but think about it for a second)

Taking that logic a step further, the police should be my personal taxi service, since after all, my taxes paid for the car and the gas.

Worst cab ride ever, and IME all they do is take you to the county jail.

[corco]

Deep thought from a shallow mind: are you really "stealing" a sign that your money...in the form of taxes...already paid for? (I know the actual answer is "yes" but think about it for a second)

If a sign costs $100 to make and there are 100,000 people in the jurisdiction,  I would only own roughly .1% of the sign, which, sure, nobody would notice if that was missing.

[kphoger]

The only sign I've owned was given to me by my dad.  There was a 35 mph sign on the ground near church, and I remember him pulling over on the way to church one day (he was the pastor) to grab it for me.  I must have been 7 years old or so.  My sister once stole a street sign that said "WATCH OUT FOR CHILDREN," because she didn't want to ever have children.

[_Simon]

Deep thought from a shallow mind: are you really "stealing" a sign that your money...in the form of taxes...already paid for? (I know the actual answer is "yes" but think about it for a second)

If a sign costs $100 to make and there are 100,000 people in the jurisdiction,  I would only own roughly .1% of the sign, which, sure, nobody would notice if that was missing.

The proper logic is "if a sign only costs $100, and so far I've paid x thousands in transportation taxes, I should be entitled to y signs"... ^^

SM-G930V

[DandyDan]

One time in college at NIU in DeKalb, I saw an arrow just lying there, so I took it.  I  have no idea what it was for or what became of the sign, but I assume my parents still have it.

I  also know one of my old Omaha friends stole a deer crossing sign once.

[Mr. Matté]

There was a 35 mph sign on the ground near church, and I remember him pulling over on the way to church one day (he was the pastor) to grab it for me.  I must have been 7 years old or so.

(bolding shift mine)

Isn't that kind of ironic?


Closest to the original topic for me was staying at a friends house for a couple of days, they had hanging on the wall an NJ Turnpike shield. Luckily, it was one of the ugly ones that looked like it ate a lemon, à la this one so we roadgeeks wouldn't have cried about it.

[coatimundi]

In Singapore (yes, the country), when I was 16, I stole a giant banner at a bus stop near our apartment that said "Low crime doesn't mean no crime." I went out at 2am, yanked it down quickly and then shoved it into my backpack. It covered three walls in my room when I put it up. I'm not totally sure what happened to it.

There was also a bus that used to run between our apartment and the main commercial strip and, when they discontinued it, I stole the sign as a souvenir (after it had been posted for some time).

[epzik8]

My dad's buddy plucked a sign from an intersection in Lanham-Seabrook, Maryland (just east of Washington, DC) back in like 1976 and took it with him to Clearwater, Florida. The sign was still in his backyard in Florida as of 2010.

[M3019C LPS20]

Some DOTs have surplus stores where you can buy old signs. Seattle has a street sign store that I've been meaning to buy from for a long time.

New York City's DOT used to sell retired street signs and traffic signal equipment to the general public for a time in the 1970s. Times have since changed, and, unless you have a contact, then obtaining a street sign from a worker is nearly impossible. EBay, though, is always a great spot to find the real stuff.

Although for those interested in replications, the NYCDOT has what is called the Sign Sales Program, which is based in Maspeth, Queens. There, a small group of people make customized signs (upon request) and other goodies (some are vintage signs of the past). I once bought a 1960s "color-coded" sign from there, but I was not quite impressed with the details, as they were not quite the same as those that were on the streets of the city years ago. Personally, I care less about replications, as I seek those that are decommissioned from NYC.

[kphoger]

There was a 35 mph sign on the ground near church, and I remember him pulling over on the way to church one day (he was the pastor) to grab it for me.  I must have been 7 years old or so.

(bolding shift mine)

Isn't that kind of ironic?

Only if you think taking a sign that's just lying on the ground is morally wrong.  It kind of seems like "stealing" trash (which is also illegal but certainly shouldn't be).

[3web]

I had the opportunity to, once, there was a sign on the ground for over one year, but I wasn't into road signs back then, so I didn't take it. But when I did get into signs, poof, it's replaced.

I have bad luck when it comes to picking up signs that fall, because either they get replaced, or there's still one bolt holding it in 

[sparker]

True story:  I was working for an electronics distributor in the San Jose area back in the very early '80's; the company owner was, well, a bit nuts -- the closest thing to Doonesbury's "Uncle Duke" (loosely patterned after Hunter Thompson) that I've ever encountered.  After a co-worker's bachelor party -- a substance-abusing affair if there were ever one -- the nascent groom drunkenly mentioned that the one gift he'd like was one of the big black-and-white Medfly signs that were posted at the borders of the local quarantine area (no deciduous fruit in or out of the zone).  So about 3 a.m. the boss, after several nosefuls of Colombia's best and several cups of coffee on top of that, rounded up anyone standing, loaded them into the company van, and headed up CA 130 toward Mount Hamilton with socket wrenches and a chainsaw (it was collectively decided to avoid such activities on any of the freeways, with the choices narrowed down to 130 or CA 9 up the hill from Saratoga).  We located the sign in question just below the observatory and after a couple of attempts to unfasten the corroded bolts, proceeded to cut the sign (about 8' wide and 5' high) off its 6x6 wood posts with said chainsaw, load it into the van, and take it to the GM's condo (with him saying all throughout the process "I can't fucking believe we did that") for storage until the wedding a week later.

Aftermath:  Along with a couple of sawhorses, the sign was set up at the wedding reception as the table holding the wedding gifts -- covered, of course by a tablecloth.  After the gifts were opened, the sheet was ceremoniously removed, with the groom, of course, falling down laughing and the bride and her family with WTF? expressions on their collective faces.  Don't know what happened to the sign after that (I changed jobs soon after this incident), but rumor has it that my (ex) boss had it re-posted along one of his buddies' long rural driveways somewhere up in Lake County as a secondary gag!

[english si]

Not me, but a college friend of mine had a brother who worked in a sign factory, so my friend got a couple of reject road signs that were going to the bin as presents from his brother, and a couple he bought himself from the factory, and stuck them in the main room of his house. This room fronted the street and had a big window in. One day a police officer walks past and sees these signs in a student house, and rings on the door (thinking they were stolen). They weren't, and the police officer went on their way.

But that's not my story - this is: this friend and I went on a cheap holiday (we booked cheap flights, took sleeping bags, and slept rough on beaches and such) to Italy. On the road one day, he found a broken reflector bollard lying next to the road and wanted to add it to his collection. So he walked around with it for the rest of the trip. At the airport, our not having checked baggage (as it cost extra) came back to bite him - it was too big to take as hand luggage, and it was bold as brass as he tried to check this bollard in. After about 5 minutes of discussion with the check in lady, security came and took him away (and I, who was behind him in the queue had to do the most unEnglish thing ever and push past the several Italians who'd decided to give up queuing and stand by the desk). The other side of the security checks, and a good hour later (not long before out flight took off), my friend came through, sans-bollard. It had been confiscated, his passport had been scanned with the police having decided to deport, rather than detain, him.

[ColossalBlocks]

When I was in 4th grade, my friends and I took a street blade that was knocked down by a tractor. I also found a MO SR 34 shield one night, and now it's sitting in my dad's storage locker in Joliet. I also have a US 67 shield in my bedroom, along with a "No Thru Traffic" sign, a street blade for Upper Blackwell in Jefferson County, Missouri, and a speed limit 30 sign.