American traffic control devices in the Philippines

[Lytton]

This is pretty interesting. In some of the cities, they usually like to install American traffic lights (they prefer the Californian traffic lights). Here are a few photos:



A Californian styled light in Manila. It also has a countdown timer to green along with it.



Interesting light in Manila.



Horizontal light.

Davao City:







Fort Bonifacio:



That's pretty much all I have at this moment (all of the images were found via Google Images). There's also one in Urdaneta City but I couldn't find any clear photos of it.

Also, if there is any American styled traffic lights in the Philippines I have missed, please feel free to post photos of it here.

[formulanone]

Love, Bang, and Jesus in one photo.

The font on the placard behind the mast arm lights intrigue me, even if it's a little off. Is it some sort of standard?

Edit: No mast arm in that photo. Derp.

[sammi]

Love, Bang, and Jesus in one photo.

The slogan literally says "Do I still need to memorize that?" referring to the name and/or frequency of the radio station.

The font on the placard behind the mast arm intrigues me, even if it's a little off. Is it some sort of standard?

No it isn't, they just painted it on. I think it should just say

   VERTICAL CLEARANCE 4.27 m

Also, holy crap, that's a lot of cables.



EDIT:

Since when does the Philippines use 911? I've only ever known of 117.

[formulanone]

Ah, okay.

[sammi]

I've only ever (personally) seen the vanilla traffic light, and it was almost always yellow. Never seen these variations with two lights, or five lights, or even heart-shaped lights.

I've been through the Fort at least twice and never seen those. That means they were installed after 2010 and I have yet to take pictures of them.

[rickmastfan67]

Screw the traffic lights, since when do they use MUTCD standard "Left Turn Yield on Green" signs?!?!?!

[Big John]

What is with the heart-shaped red lens on the bottom photo?

[sammi]

Screw the traffic lights, since when do they use MUTCD standard "Left Turn Yield on Green" signs?!?!?!

Well, it's American, and it's the Philippines, so...

[Alps]

Screw the traffic lights, since when do they use MUTCD standard "Left Turn Yield on Green" signs?!?!?!

Well, it's American, and it's the Philippines, so...

No, please, explain further. And the heart-shaped light thing too.

[sammi]

Screw the traffic lights, since when do they use MUTCD standard "Left Turn Yield on Green" signs?!?!?!

Well, it's American, and it's the Philippines, so...

No, please, explain further. And the heart-shaped light thing too.

Turns out the heart-shaped light was something the Fort did for Valentine's Day 2012. They also did Christmas-themed traffic lights in December 2012. But I haven't seen anything of their regular shape.

Regarding the general use of MUTCD signs, it's been like that for as far as I remember. By law, signage should follow the Vienna Convention, but as I see it Philippine signage is just a mélange of whatever the DPWH* thinks looks good, which is a combination of American, European and Australian.

* DPWH = Dept. of Public Works and Highways, basically the equivalent of a state DOT but at the national level.

[Zeffy]

Regarding the general use of MUTCD signs, it's been like that for as far as I remember. By law, signage should follow the Vienna Convention, but as I see it Philippine signage is just a mélange of whatever the DPWH* thinks looks good, which is a combination of American, European and Australian.

* DPWH = Dept. of Public Works and Highways, basically the equivalent of a state DOT but at the national level.

So what's the possibility of me running into a MUTCD SPEED LIMIT sign, and then running into the EU one? Bonus points if they are right after one another.

[sammi]

Regarding the general use of MUTCD signs, it's been like that for as far as I remember. By law, signage should follow the Vienna Convention, but as I see it Philippine signage is just a mélange of whatever the DPWH* thinks looks good, which is a combination of American, European and Australian.

* DPWH = Dept. of Public Works and Highways, basically the equivalent of a state DOT but at the national level.

So what's the possibility of me running into a MUTCD SPEED LIMIT sign, and then running into the EU one? Bonus points if they are right after one another.

Well, there's this, which I've actually never seen before, at least not with the minimum part.


But it's not likely that you'll have the two right after one another. Probably the closest I can think of is two intersecting expressways built by different contractors who follow different signage standards. No bonus points for me.

[Zeffy]

It's specified in the MUTCD - but yeah, I've never actually seen it used out on the field before - same with the TRUCKS XX signs. Here's the page on those signs:

http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/htm/2009r1r2/part2/fig2b_03_longdesc.htm


Also the sign you posted is in Arialveticavertesk. Oh, the horrors...

[sammi]

Also the sign you posted is in Arialveticavertesk. Oh, the horrors...

I know, I don't like it either. @_@

The sign shop that makes probably most of the signs in my part of the country definitely has the FHWA fonts, but for some reason doesn't use them as much as they should. Case in point: that sign. You'll probably find the better ones on the NLEX, where a lot of the old signs are in FHWA.

I once got into a shitstorm on another forum by having to point it out. The contractor kept arguing that the sign was in "Caltrans Series E Modified" (is this different?) and I had to make a graphic showing him that it was clearly Arial. I didn't get banned or anything, but they "fixed" it. (I'd post a link in the morning.)

[getemngo]

It's specified in the MUTCD - but yeah, I've never actually seen it used out on the field before - same with the TRUCKS XX signs. Here's the page on those signs:

Those signs with SPEED LIMIT/MINIMUM were standard on Michigan freeways during my childhood. You'll still often see the same style of sign today, but with TRUCKS as the speed on the bottom.

[formulanone]

Well, there's this, which I've actually never seen before, at least not with the minimum part.

Those are very common on Florida's interstates; usually a minimum of 50 mph is posted with a max of 70, 45 with 65, and 40 with 55/60. I don't think I've ever seen a minimum speed limit sign lower than 40. Usually, there's no speed distinction for trucks, except for narrow construction zones.

I'll forgive the Arial because of the triple-digit thing.

[Brandon]

Well, there's this, which I've actually never seen before, at least not with the minimum part.

Those are very common on Florida's interstates; usually a minimum of 50 mph is posted with a max of 70, 45 with 65, and 40 with 55/60. I don't think I've ever seen a minimum speed limit sign lower than 40. Usually, there's no speed distinction for trucks, except for narrow construction zones.

I'll forgive the Arial because of the triple-digit thing.

It's not just Florida.  Outside Cook County, these are used all over the place in Illinois, including the tollways within Cook County.  They're also used in Iowa, Missouri, Ohio, and Indiana.  To me, Wisconsin is odd for not having them.

[sammi]

I just changed the title a bit to reflect how the topic broadened quite a bit.

Well I said I would post a link in the morning, but it's now about 3 pm here. 1 exam down, 2 more to go. Yay me. ^^

Anyway, to whatever I was getting at. Here is a link to screenshots of the conversations that happened between me and the contractor (streetsmart). I've manipulated the images, to translate the Filipino bits into English, and to remove all instances of my username. Don't mind the scroll bar.

[Zeffy]

Anyone who's seen a computer knows when a font is Arial / Helvetica - it's used everywhere, so being able to detect it should be as easy as detecting say Comic Sans MS.

Here's a side by side recreation of the Tarlac City sign:




What's interesting is that the C in City seems to be distorted rather than the rest of the letters.

[hotdogPi]

I just changed the title a bit to reflect how the topic broadened quite a bit.

You just changed that one post, not the whole thread. To change the whole thread title, edit the first post.

[sammi]

I just changed the title a bit to reflect how the topic broadened quite a bit.

You just changed that one post, not the whole thread. To change the whole thread title, edit the first post.

That's something for Lytton to do.

[rickmastfan67]

I just changed the title a bit to reflect how the topic broadened quite a bit.

You just changed that one post, not the whole thread. To change the whole thread title, edit the first post.

That's something for Lytton to do.

Or for an Admin to do which I've now done.

[Lytton]

Ah sorry. I wasn't here to change the title.

Thanks rickmastfan67.

[realjd]

Horizontal light.

Red on the right? I've seen RHD countries with red on the left (like in the Bahamas - FDOT standard installations indicate Floridian contractors) but never seen a LHD country with red on the right! Are they all like that or is it just a case of lax standards and oversight like with the fonts?

[Alps]

Horizontal light.

Red on the right? I've seen RHD countries with red on the left (like in the Bahamas - FDOT standard installations indicate Floridian contractors) but never seen a LHD country with red on the right! Are they all like that or is it just a case of lax standards and oversight like with the fonts?

That's my understanding of the rule for horizontal lights, actually.