Anti-Sign Tampering Warning Stickers

[peterj920]

This is a sticker warning of penalties for tampering with a sign in the Village of Kimberly.  Many signs at the state and local level have stickers attached to signs, usually in the lower right hand corner.  Would like to see if there are any other variations in other states. 

[Brian556]

$25 is an awfully low fine, especially considering that stealing a stop sign endangers people's lives. This is the first time Ive seen one on the front of a sign.

Osceola County, FL uses triangular stickers. They also screen print the date on street name signs.

[jeffandnicole]

$25 is an awfully low fine, especially considering that stealing a stop sign endangers people's lives. This is the first time Ive seen one on the front of a sign.

Osceola County, FL uses triangular stickers. They also screen print the date on street name signs.

Probably because the law was created in 1950 and was never updated. I'm sure there's other laws that they can hit you with if one were to actually get caught stealing a sign.

[vdeane]

Plus who knows how many surcharges get added afterwards.

[paulthemapguy]

In a village like this, you might expect enough people around to notice a vandal and report him/her.  You'd probably be less likely to see a sticker like this in a rural area, where there's no hope of enforcement, but some agencies have stickers on every sign systematically.  Below, you'll see two pictures I took in Will County, where I'm from.  One is on the back of a state (IDOT) issued sign, and the other is on a sign issued by the county.

[Bitmapped]

Harrison County, Ohio used to spray paint a large stencil reading "Har Co Hwy" across the front of their signs for a similar reason.

[jay8g]

[kphoger]

I keep wanting to make some stickers that say "WRONG SIGN" / "SHOULD BE" and then blank space in which I could write a reference code to the correct highway sign in Sharpie. Would slapping such a sticker on the front of a sign count as vandalism? (OK, I know the answer.)

[paulthemapguy]

I keep wanting to make some stickers that say "WRONG SIGN" / "SHOULD BE" and then blank space in which I could write a reference code to the correct highway sign in Sharpie. Would slapping such a sticker on the front of a sign count as vandalism? (OK, I know the answer.)

You can always contact the road agency (municipal, county, township, or state) responsible for the sign, if you know which agency has jurisdiction over that road.  Perhaps a good addition to the sticker would be "Call (phone number) to report damage or deficiencies with this sign."

[1995hoo]

.... 

It would be nice if they learned what an apostrophe looks like as opposed to an opening single quotation mark.

[peterj920]

WISDOT puts this on the front of their signs

[MASTERNC]

Saw stickers like these in Amherst, NY this week as well

[briantroutman]

$25-100? When you add in the labor to install it, that price is barely the replacement cost, right? Doesn't seem high enough to scare away someone looking to decorate his den.

[Brandon]

In a village like this, you might expect enough people around to notice a vandal and report him/her.  You'd probably be less likely to see a sticker like this in a rural area, where there's no hope of enforcement, but some agencies have stickers on every sign systematically.  Below, you'll see two pictures I took in Will County, where I'm from.  One is on the back of a state (IDOT) issued sign, and the other is on a sign issued by the county.

Over in New Lenox, off Laraway Road, I see.

[paulthemapguy]

$25-100? When you add in the labor to install it, that price is barely the replacement cost, right? Doesn't seem high enough to scare away someone looking to decorate his den.

Hah that's exactly what I thought too.
I'm pretty sure most road agencies have stickers like these--I demand more pictures!!

In a village like this, you might expect enough people around to notice a vandal and report him/her.  You'd probably be less likely to see a sticker like this in a rural area, where there's no hope of enforcement, but some agencies have stickers on every sign systematically.  Below, you'll see two pictures I took in Will County, where I'm from.  One is on the back of a state (IDOT) issued sign, and the other is on a sign issued by the county.

--photo--

Over in New Lenox, off Laraway Road, I see.

For some reason I knew you'd be able to pinpoint the location of this photo.  I may or may not spend a lot of my time in that vicinity >_> <_<

[peterj920]

First sticker I've seen in Wisconsin that has a fine higher than $25 to $100

[Scott5114]

stop documenting all the tackamarks, you'll make the New World Order have a sad

[Jardine]

I don't know why removing a stop sign wouldn't be viewed as seriously as dropping a cement block off an overpass.

 

[kphoger]

In a village like this, you might expect enough people around to notice a vandal and report him/her.  You'd probably be less likely to see a sticker like this in a rural area, where there's no hope of enforcement, but some agencies have stickers on every sign systematically.  Below, you'll see two pictures I took in Will County, where I'm from.  One is on the back of a state (IDOT) issued sign, and the other is on a sign issued by the county.

Over in New Lenox, off Laraway Road, I see.

Interestingly, the only street sign I own was taken from New Lenox. That was back in the 80s, and a speed limit sign had fallen off its post. My dad put it in the car on his way home from work to give to me.

[hm insulators]

Here in the Phoenix area, I've seen signs with reflective tape on the posts (yellow reflective tape on, say STOP AHEAD or arrow signs, red reflective tape for stop signs, which make the signs easier to see at night; they're especially common in Sun City West), and the tacmar crowd get their undershorts in a bind over those.

[Quillz]

Do you think these actually work? There are many missing CA-23 and US-101 shields in the Ventura County area, despite all of them being stamped with the "PROPERTY STATE OF CALIFORNIA" legend. I'm not really sure exactly how a sticker is going to stop theft. If someone wants a sign, they'll steal a sign. When it became known US-666 was getting renumbered, there was a report of someone deliberately crashing a car into a sign gantry just to get the shield.

[Brian556]

Recently, on ebay, I saw a California state route marker with "Property of State of California" scratched off. I thought it was hilarious because it was so obvious, and was basically an admission of guilt of selling stolen property to me even more so that the people that leave it on there, cause the state or contractors could have sold those as scrap.

[Quillz]

Wonder how much sign theft would be prevented if the state DOTs simply sold replicas signs via their site? I know Yellowknife did this to cut down on Ragged Ass Road sign theft. I think people who might otherwise steal signs would buy one legally if the option was available. (And they are probably unaware of sites like this one that do offer some sign sales.)