Erroneous road signs

[agentsteel53]

This reminds me of the story relating to data roaming with Verizon Wireless, where they quoted the rates at 0.002¢/KB, but charged $0.002/KB.  Apparently no one at Verizon Wireless could be made to understand that those two values are not equal.

I'd love to exploit that loophole and pay 1/100th the intended rate.

[theline]

An ongoing annoyance for me is when a decimal point is combined with a cents symbol, such as what I saw all over the western part of the Indiana Toll Road earlier this summer.  One example:

I'm blaming the damn Spaniards that are running the road. They obvious fail to comprehend good ol' American money.

I'm surprised that the sign doesn't read:

                  E-Z Pass       € 0.23
                  Cash            € 0.53

[CNGL-Leudimin]

It also annoys me when I see something like that. How I get a half-cent (or eurocent) coin?

I've read all this thread, and I literally LOLed at some signs. However, the traffic light+stop doesn't seem incorrect for me, as here a flashing yellow+stop combo is used instead of a flashing red.

[1995hoo]

For a half-cent coin, go to a coin dealer or antique store and you might find one. It's likely worth more than half a cent, though. When I was a kid my mom had one dated 1823 that she got from one of her grandparents. It was kind of neat, but I liked her Series 1936 $2 bill better because it had Monticello on the back.

[agentsteel53]

Series 1936 $2 bill

do you mean 1963?  the three series of $2 with Monticello are '28, '53, and '63.

[agentsteel53]

It also annoys me when I see something like that. How I get a half-cent (or eurocent) coin?

I've read all this thread, and I literally LOLed at some signs. However, the traffic light+stop doesn't seem incorrect for me, as here a flashing yellow+stop combo is used instead of a flashing red.

do you guys have in Spain a setup with a full traffic signal (red, yellow, green, going through all its phases) and also a STOP sign on the same post?  they're in Italy and I wasn't quite sure what they meant.  I figured the sign was there in case the light was out, so on green I proceeded without stopping.

[1995hoo]

Series 1936 $2 bill

do you mean 1963?  the three series of $2 with Monticello are '28, '53, and '63.

I don't know because I haven't seen it in years. I thought it was 1936, but maybe my recollection is wrong. I'm sure it's older than 1963, though; she had it with some other very old stuff, including some worthless pre-WWII German banknotes. If I remember maybe I might ask tomorrow–we are meeting my parents for dinner.

[agentsteel53]

I don't know because I haven't seen it in years. I thought it was 1936, but maybe my recollection is wrong. I'm sure it's older than 1963, though; she had it with some other very old stuff, including some worthless pre-WWII German banknotes. If I remember maybe I might ask tomorrow–we are meeting my parents for dinner.

probably one of the '28 series then.  they had '28, then '28A-'28G. 

to this day I haven't quite figured out when the Treasury adds or increments a letter, and when they go to a new year.  recently, it seems like they don't much go for the letters anymore: the last B or higher series was 1969, which went up to D.  since then, we've had '77A, '81A, '85A, '88A, and '03A, and the rest have just been a plain year.

meanwhile, series of 1928 $2 bills were issued until 1953.  if yours is from before the war, then it is probably a 28 to a 28E.

[elsmere241]

It also annoys me when I see something like that. How I get a half-cent (or eurocent) coin?

I've read all this thread, and I literally LOLed at some signs. However, the traffic light+stop doesn't seem incorrect for me, as here a flashing yellow+stop combo is used instead of a flashing red.

do you guys have in Spain a setup with a full traffic signal (red, yellow, green, going through all its phases) and also a STOP sign on the same post?  they're in Italy and I wasn't quite sure what they meant.  I figured the sign was there in case the light was out, so on green I proceeded without stopping.

Yes, that's exactly what it means.  There should have been a sign below it that says "A semaforo spento o lampeggiante", literally meaning "If signal out or flashing."  (Italy puts many signals on four-way flashing yellow at night.)  In NATO areas there's a supplemental sign that says "When traffic light off or yellow blinker on."

[agentsteel53]

Yes, that's exactly what it means.  There should have been a sign below it that says "A semaforo spento o lampeggiante", literally meaning "If signal out or flashing."  (Italy puts many signals on four-way flashing yellow at night.)  In NATO areas there's a supplemental sign that says "When traffic light off or yellow blinker on."

I did not see any sign like that, in any language.

[elsmere241]

Yes, that's exactly what it means.  There should have been a sign below it that says "A semaforo spento o lampeggiante", literally meaning "If signal out or flashing."  (Italy puts many signals on four-way flashing yellow at night.)  In NATO areas there's a supplemental sign that says "When traffic light off or yellow blinker on."

I did not see any sign like that, in any language.

Maybe they forgot to put it up, or it fell down and wasn't replaced, or something.  But that's what that stop sign is supposed to mean.  Italian signage tends to vary by region, anyway.  For instance, some regions have "end speed limit" signs (gray circle with a slash), some have "start speed limit" signs (red circle) and some have both.

[agentsteel53]

Maybe they forgot to put it up, or it fell down and wasn't replaced, or something.  But that's what that stop sign is supposed to mean.  Italian signage tends to vary by region, anyway.  For instance, some regions have "end speed limit" signs (gray circle with a slash), some have "start speed limit" signs (red circle) and some have both.

I mean as a general trend.  I saw many (at least 20 or 30) instances of "traffic light with stop sign" and none of them had the explanation. 

[elsmere241]

Maybe they forgot to put it up, or it fell down and wasn't replaced, or something.  But that's what that stop sign is supposed to mean.  Italian signage tends to vary by region, anyway.  For instance, some regions have "end speed limit" signs (gray circle with a slash), some have "start speed limit" signs (red circle) and some have both.

I mean as a general trend.  I saw many (at least 20 or 30) instances of "traffic light with stop sign" and none of them had the explanation. 

Well, who knows.  I lived in Italy for a couple of years (in the north-central/northeast) and I don't remember the sign ever not being there.  I did notice the four-way (or two-way for a narrow alley or tunnel) flashing yellow at night, as opposed to one direction having flashing red.

[agentsteel53]

yep, this was in the north of Italy.  we effectively did Milano-Venice-Bologna-Pisa-Genoa and then Monaco and Nice.

[elsmere241]

I lived mostly in medium-sized cities (a couple of weeks in Bologna was the exception) but I was close to and/or saw Pisa, Florence, Venice, Verona and Trieste.  One of these days I want to get back over there and see all the places in that part of Europe I heard about but didn't get to (particularly Rome).

[Scott5114]

to this day I haven't quite figured out when the Treasury adds or increments a letter, and when they go to a new year.  recently, it seems like they don't much go for the letters anymore: the last B or higher series was 1969, which went up to D.  since then, we've had '77A, '81A, '85A, '88A, and '03A, and the rest have just been a plain year.

At the risk of going off topic here, it's like software version numbers–the year is for major changes and the letter is for minor changes. The reason why there are far fewer letters now than there were before the 70s is because before then signature changes were considered minor. I would imagine it was seen as undesirable for bills to bear dates decades before they were printed, and there was a general desire to keep the years unified on all denominations. In the 70s sometime, the policy was changed so that secretary of the treasury changes are major, which has the effect of forcing a major change at least once every 8 years. (Treasurers are still minor, which is why, e.g. 2003A exists.)

There are exceptions of course. Whoever was in charge of implementing the change whenever G. William Miller became secretary apparently forgot the new policy, thus Series 1977A. There's especially been some wonkiness as of late, since the Treasury appears to be abusing the letter to slip extra series in where they mistakenly expected to not have to issue a series–this explains 2006A $5s and 2009A $100s (which are of the design generation before the 2009 $100s!) With the more frequent total redesigns, it might be simpler for the treasury to go back to "signature changes are minor" and reserve the year increment for whenever we get a totally new design of bill, which would give us 1996 for the big-head bills (N-type) and 2004 for the colored bills (G-type).

[hbelkins]

Found this today on eastbound KY 499 in Madison County. Didn't have my camera handy, so I grabbed my phone. Not the best shot in the world, but here it is.

[vtk]

I would consider that an acceptable oval variant.  Better than an ellipse, anyway.

[Alps]

Found this today on eastbound KY 499 in Madison County. Didn't have my camera handy, so I grabbed my phone. Not the best shot in the world, but here it is.

That's the creme filling of the Vermont shield sandwich.

[Takumi]

Pardon the low quality phone pic, but I stumbled across this on VA 36 today. The TO banner should be over the US 1 shield.

[1995hoo]

Belated upload I had prepared and then forgotten about. This is near the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC; the street name depends on whom you ask–it's either Ohio Drive (many maps), Rock Creek Parkway (many sat-navs), or Old Constitution Avenue (only according to some local officials). Regardless of the street name, it's very hard to obey that sign.

[Central Avenue]

Upside-down "no U turn" signs always make me think of the defunct New Rome, Ohio, which had one for years at the start of their infamous speed trap:



(Picture shamelessly swiped from here, since the signs, like New Rome, no longer exist)

[Fixed link. -S.]

[TEG24601]

This reminds me of the story relating to data roaming with Verizon Wireless, where they quoted the rates at 0.002¢/KB, but charged $0.002/KB.  Apparently no one at Verizon Wireless could be made to understand that those two values are not equal.

I'd love to exploit that loophole and pay 1/100th the intended rate.

I finally found the story/blog - http://verizonmath.blogspot.com/2007/08/original-recording-of-verizon-customer.html

[route56]

Found one of those upside-down NO U TURN signs on the ramp from the SLT to eastbound I-70.


47310 by richiekennedy56, on Flickr

[vtk]

(Picture shamelessly swiped from here, since the signs, like New Rome, no longer exist)

First of all, that website still exists?

Second, don't use quote marks around the URL in the link code on this forum.  It doesn't work that way.