I'm very stressed out about signal related stuff

[jakeroot]

I personally think yellow looks better on signals, but that's just me.

I'm really torn. I'm used to seeing yellow signals in Vancouver (where everything is yellow -- housing, lens, front and rear of the backplate), and I like them. They stand out from the environment, which I suppose is the point. On the other hand, I'm very used to seeing all black signals in most Washington cities, which I think fit in better with the environment, especially in this darker and rainier part of the country.

Yellow signals are cool and yellow backplates are cool, but I can't stand them combined with each other personally. Looks really ugly in my opinion. However, I love the black signals and yellow backplates and the dark green signals and yellow backplates. On the topic of British Columbia, I also thoroughly like their overuse of Clearview on everything. There's something about it that other transportation departments don't do that I like.

I've also edited in FWHA on to the numbers on BC's shield, and it actually looks worse. Whatever font they're using on it now (helvetica, arial?) is a pretty good fit, despite being nonstandard. BC seems to be pretty good at making non-FHWA fonts look good on signage.

I can't seem to figure out what's going on in BC, as far as signal housing color. All backplates are yellow, and a retroreflective yellow strip is always included. But some signal housings are black. I've even seen blue and red. But the Province seems to allow any color, with black or yellow being the preference. Assuming a yellow backplate is non-negotiable, I also prefer black housings. Not a giant fan of green signals. They're common in WA, but they all seem dark enough that they might as well be black, but...no.

On Clearview; yes, BC does kind of do their own thing. They completely switched over in 2006. Nothing is off-limits for Clearview, and I believe each width has been used at some point (5W being the most common, and 1 being the least common AFAIK).

On the shields; Helvetica is the font used for all shields except for the "1" on the TCH logo (see two shields side-by-side here). Not sure how that was decided, but I do appreciate the Helvetica. I'm normally not a fan of Helvetica, but it works well in this situation. I'm not aware of any other jurisdictions using Helvetica. Neighbouring Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba use Clearview for their shields. Pretty sure the rest of the provinces use Highway Gothic.

I'm not really a fan of the yellow reflective strip around the edges of an otherwise all-black signal. Here's an example.

Neither am I. That's by far the most popular look around Washington these days, with a few holdouts (Bellevue being the most notable, with Tacoma also being slow to adopt). Here's an example from my area (near identical to what I see in your link, though): https://goo.gl/QhS5Uu

[adventurernumber1]

Traffic signals that look like this have been prevalent in my area since about early 2015 or so, when they also started phasing in the Flashing Yellow Arrows (FYA). Here is an example close to me.

[TheArkansasRoadgeek]

Traffic signals that look like this have been prevalent in my area since about early 2015 or so, when they also started phasing in the Flashing Yellow Arrows (FYA). Here is an example close to me.

That intersection is Doghouse Central!


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[adventurernumber1]

Traffic signals that look like this have been prevalent in my area since about early 2015 or so, when they also started phasing in the Flashing Yellow Arrows (FYA). Here is an example close to me.

That intersection is Doghouse Central!


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True, but I was referring to traffic signals that are black but now have the yellow outlining around them. There are many places locally, though, that have both the FYA and the yellow outlines. 

[jakeroot]

Traffic signals that look like this have been prevalent in my area since about early 2015 or so, when they also started phasing in the Flashing Yellow Arrows (FYA). Here is an example close to me.

They appear to be PEEK's, my new-found favorite signal manufacturer.

[adventurernumber1]

Here is an example of this in my area with the FYA.

Traffic signals that look like this have been prevalent in my area since about early 2015 or so, when they also started phasing in the Flashing Yellow Arrows (FYA). Here is an example close to me.

They appear to be PEEK's, my new-found favorite signal manufacturer.

Oh okay, that's cool! Even though I don't have as much knowledge on them, from the way they look, I love them as well. 

[jakeroot]

Traffic signals that look like this have been prevalent in my area since about early 2015 or so, when they also started phasing in the Flashing Yellow Arrows (FYA). Here is an example close to me.

They appear to be PEEK's, my new-found favorite signal manufacturer.

Oh okay, that's cool! Even though I don't have as much knowledge on them, from the way they look, I love them as well. 

Not until this thread did I give a shit either. I never really paid any attention to the signals themselves, but now it's my favorite driving hobby! Thanks to this thread, mostly.

[Scott5114]

Traffic signals that look like this have been prevalent in my area since about early 2015 or so, when they also started phasing in the Flashing Yellow Arrows (FYA). Here is an example close to me.

They appear to be PEEK's, my new-found favorite signal manufacturer.

Oh okay, that's cool! Even though I don't have as much knowledge on them, from the way they look, I love them as well. 

Not until this thread did I give a shit either. I never really paid any attention to the signals themselves, but now it's my favorite driving hobby! Thanks to this thread, mostly.

Same here. Given Oklahoma's schizophrenia when it comes to anything transportation-related, I'm having fun constructing theories for why a given intersection might use one signal type and not another. I'm noticing that OkDOT tends to heavily favor the Eagle Durasigs, but I've seen McCains and Peeks on state highways. There's lots of mastarms in Norman with one signal type for the through movements and then a four-section McCain for the left turn signals–obviously whenever Norman switched to the FYA, they bought in bulk...

I am not entirely sure what determines who is responsible for signal specifications and installation around here–unlike in Missouri, mastarm signage on state highways follows city standards, and signal housings are such a mishmesh that I'm tempted to say the cities maintain those too. And yet the backplates were replaced on the state highways, and only the state highways, with new ones with wind vents and reflective borders. (Norman uses reflective borders on new installs, but never with vents.) It conjures up an image of an ODOT dump truck dropping all the old backplates on the lawn of Norman City Hall...

One observation of mine that hasn't been explicitly noted by our signal expert here: Eagle Durasigs tend to have thin yellow boxes on the signal faces, surrounding each lens and visor. McCains and Peeks don't have them.

I guess Eagle Durasigs are my favorite now–jakeroot is a Peek man–are we to have some sort of ritual fight to determine whose preferred signal type is better? Or will a 65-page thread on the subject suffice?

[freebrickproductions]

One observation of mine that hasn't been explicitly noted by our signal expert here: Eagle Durasigs tend to have thin yellow boxes on the signal faces, surrounding each lens and visor. McCains and Peeks don't have them.

That's due to the way Durasigs (and by extension, Alusigs, their aluminum counterparts) are built, and really only occurs on those signals with different colors for the doors/visors and the bodies.

[jakeroot]

One observation of mine that hasn't been explicitly noted by our signal expert here: Eagle Durasigs tend to have thin yellow boxes on the signal faces, surrounding each lens and visor. McCains and Peeks don't have them.

That's due to the way Durasigs (and by extension, Alusigs, their aluminum counterparts) are built, and really only occurs on those signals with different colors for the doors/visors and the bodies.

There's very few signal types that I haven't seen in my area at least once. But I'm pretty sure those signal heads with the thin yellow box is one that I have never seen. I seem to recall either Minnesota or Wisconsin being heavy users of them (with black backplates).

I guess Eagle Durasigs are my favorite now–jakeroot is a Peek man–are we to have some sort of ritual fight to determine whose preferred signal type is better? Or will a 65-page thread on the subject suffice?

Fight to the death is the only reasonable option, since a 65 page thread is also suicide, just slower.

[MNHighwayMan]

I guess Eagle Durasigs are my favorite now–jakeroot is a Peek man–are we to have some sort of ritual fight to determine whose preferred signal type is better? Or will a 65-page thread on the subject suffice?

Fight to the death is the only reasonable option, since a 65 page thread is also suicide, just slower.

What if I have no preference for model? (Colors, though–all black with black backplates is clearly the best color scheme.)

[jakeroot]

I guess Eagle Durasigs are my favorite now–jakeroot is a Peek man–are we to have some sort of ritual fight to determine whose preferred signal type is better? Or will a 65-page thread on the subject suffice?

Fight to the death is the only reasonable option, since a 65 page thread is also suicide, just slower.

What if I have no preference for model? (Colors, though–all black with black backplates is clearly the best color scheme.)

Then it will be assumed that you are a McCain fan, and you will be sacrificed early on for displaying such heresy.

Jokes aside, black-on-black is also my favorite.

[traffic light guy]

I have an empty feeling, due to the fact that other people on flickr have images of signals that I don't have. Out of all the collections on flickr, I may be the least favorite among the signalgeek community

[jakeroot]

I have an empty feeling, due to the fact that other people on flickr have images of signals that I don't have. Out of all the collections on flickr, I may be the least favorite among the signalgeek community

Nahh, no one likes a show off.

[Roadgeekteen]

I have an empty feeling, due to the fact that other people on flickr have images of signals that I don't have. Out of all the collections on flickr, I may be the least favorite among the signalgeek community

Don't worry about it, your collection is not just defined by what is in it.

[Amtrakprod]

I have an empty feeling, due to the fact that other people on flickr have images of signals that I don't have. Out of all the collections on flickr, I may be the least favorite among the signalgeek community

I probably have less than you, only a railroad crossing Safetran Type 1 E bell and a McCain Pedestrian Signal


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