I was going to reply to that thread about the gay pedestrian signals until I found out it was locked. Allow me to add something from the Washington Square West section of Philadelphia:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:13th_Gayborhood.jpg
I don't really think they're any different (legally, in terms of design freedom) than the pride crosswalks found in many cities. But interesting nonetheless.
Quote from: jakeroot on December 13, 2015, 12:24:07 AM
I don't really think they're any different (legally, in terms of design freedom) than the pride crosswalks found in many cities. But interesting nonetheless.
I don't think these are any different from China Town signs or "Old downtown" signs or things like that.
I think there is a difference here between these and the pedestrian signals. The MUTCD allows DOTs to place certain artistic elements on street name signs if they are significant to the community. However, replacing MUTCD-compliant symbols on pedestrian signals with something else would never fly with the FHWA, since it could create potential confusion. This would be like changing the colors of vehicular traffic signals to pink, purple, and blue in lieu of red, yellow, and green, respectively.
Quote from: Pink Jazz on December 18, 2015, 11:04:11 PM
This would be like changing the colors of vehicular traffic signals to pink, purple, and blue in lieu of red, yellow, and green, respectively.
No, it would be like changing the circles to squares, or triangles. The colors of the signals didn't change, just the shape.
Personally, I don't think the FHWA would be overly opposed to different shapes, as long as they clearly portray the same message as the white man and red hand.
We're really gonna keep this one alive, huh?
Quote from: jakeroot on December 18, 2015, 11:26:11 PM
Personally, I don't think the FHWA would be overly opposed to different shapes, as long as they clearly portray the same message as the white man and red hand.
Actually, here is the FHWA's stance on using shapes for vehicular traffic signals:
http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/knowledge/faqs/faq_part4.htm#tcsfq11
The FHWA apparently doesn't support the idea.