Road-related pet peeves

[TravelingBethelite]

I.E., little things that tick the roadgeek in you off.

For example, I HATE when people write interstate #'s like: I-70 = 1-70.  It just ain't right. 

[SignGeek101]

When they (in my case the Manitoba Ministry of Infrastructure and Transportation, MIT) cancels a much-needed road upgrade such as the Perimeter Hwy in Winnipeg, and instead installs a new at-grade traffic light intersection there. 

[Bruce]

Calling it "the 5" or "the 90". This ain't SoCal, you transplant scum.

Also, people mixing up shields when making maps. It's simple enough to google it and pull up a Wikipedia article with the correct (and free-license/public domain) shield to use.

[Brandon]

It's "Lake Shore Drive", three words, not two (i.e. "Lakeshore Drive").  It even says so on all the street blades and green signs.  And yes, you can call it "LSD" and "The Drive".  No one calls it "Route 41".

[noelbotevera]

People saying US 30 ends in California...

[OCGuy81]

Just my inner roadgeek, but I hate when multiplexes aren't signed.  I've been to a lot of places where a US or state route is "invisible" yet shares pavement with an interstate.

I realize people often use the Interstate for a thru route, but if there's a highway running along with it, put up some signs.

[1995hoo]

–Traffic lights located on the near side of an intersection such that you either have to stop well back of the stop line or else bend your head down to see the light.

–"Slower Traffic Keep Right" signs. Use "Keep Right Except to Pass." People don't like to think they're "slow," and too many people think driving the speed limit means you're not "slower."

–"Reduced Speed Ahead" signs. I much prefer the style telling you what the reduced speed limit will be. But if you must use the generic sign, it should say "Reduce Speed Ahead" because it's the speed limit that is reduced and the sign is telling you to prepare to slow down to conform with that. In other words, whether any "speed" is actually reduced depends on the individual driver.

–The annoying American predilection for stop signs when yield signs would do.

–Traffic lights that don't have the very nice combined red/yellow phase used in the UK and many other places in Europe that tells you when the light is about to turn green. I've never understood why this isn't used everywhere.

[mariethefoxy]

- 4 way stop sign intersections being used as speed control.
- clearview font
- when street name signs are missing or intentionally posted in a way that makes it hard to see, like spray painting the name on a wood stick. Or the common new England thing of only posting the side street instead of both.
- roundabouts on major highways, Riverhead NY has a few bad ones (the County Route 58 and Roanoke Ave one in particular) that slow things down rather than moving traffic efficiently.
- Putting stop signs at entrances to a Traffic Circle/Roundabout.

[busman_49]

–"Reduced Speed Ahead" signs. I much prefer the style telling you what the reduced speed limit will be. But if you must use the generic sign, it should say "Reduce Speed Ahead" because it's the speed limit that is reduced and the sign is telling you to prepare to slow down to conform with that. In other words, whether any "speed" is actually reduced depends on the individual driver.

In that same vein, I dislike "Speed Zone Ahead" signs.  Even though I may be in a rural area where the limit isn't posted, it's assumed to be 55.  Sounds like a speed zone to me.  Unless they're telling me that I can speed in the zone that's up ahead of me.

[Laura]

It's "Lake Shore Drive", three words, not two (i.e. "Lakeshore Drive").  It even says so on all the street blades and green signs.  And yes, you can call it "LSD" and "The Drive".  No one calls it "Route 41".

Yep. I hate when words are compounded together when they are meant to be separate. There's a road near where I grew up that is spelled High Point Road but was sloppily resigned by the county as Highpoint Road.

I also hate redundant names like Marketplace Drive and Broadway Road. The suffix is already in the name! It's the redundancy department of redundancy.


iPhone

[Pete from Boston]

I also hate redundant names like Marketplace Drive and Broadway Road. The suffix is already in the name! It's the redundancy department of redundancy.

With you on the second one, but the "place" in the common compound word "marketplace" isn't "Place," the street suffix.

[kurumi]

The street name "Auto Mall Parkway"
Connecticut "Phase III" signs (button copy outline instead of black on white shields)
California BGS design in general
Four-lane arterials in busy areas with no center lane and minimal left-turn pockets, so you're frequently stuck behind someone waiting to turn left
Numbered highways that just end without proper signage (CT 176, CT 71A)
Interchanges where left exits/entrances could have been removed when the interchange was built in 1964 (CT 2/17)
Overlaps that are basically signed like a gap in the secondary road (I-84/US 6)

[AlexandriaVA]

Interstate services signs which vaguely refer to "Food"..."Gas"..."Lodging", when there aren't any immediately off of said exit. My mom had a good pre-GPS rule for that stuff. If you can't see it or its sign from the highway, it's not there.

[Henry]

Sequential exit numbers, because they don't correspond to the mileage on the highways. Back when the majority of the Interstates were under construction they were fine, but now I prefer mileage-based exits.

[OCGuy81]

Interstate services signs which vaguely refer to "Food"..."Gas"..."Lodging", when there aren't any immediately off of said exit. My mom had a good pre-GPS rule for that stuff. If you can't see it or its sign from the highway, it's not there.

That's a good rule.  I have seen some service signs before that have arrows along with the mileage (i.e. 1/4 mile left) along the actual offramp.  That's helpful.

[D-Dey65]

Some of you have already covered mine, but here are others that haven't been covered;

-Unfinished roads.
-Development that blocks the completion of those unfinished roads.
-Use of incorrect designations for roads by TV Traffic reporters. An example would be East Moriches-Riverhead Road being shown as New York State Route 51 when it's actually Suffolk County Road 51.

[noelbotevera]

People who aren't roadgeeks.
New York drivers.
People not calling freeways in cities by name.
The word "the".
Everything else.

[Tom958]

Use of black-on-yellow plates for road names when they're comounted with warning signs,as though there's some danger associated with that particular road. White on green for that, OK?

The 2009 MUTCD, especially how freeway exits with one dropped and one option lane are treated. And yield signs at railroads. 

[silverback1065]

Street name signs places in this fashion: https://www.google.com/maps/@39.9848328,-86.1744054,3a,15y,124.14h,86.89t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1stUFGMsptzDN7M95uHk4UGA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Impossible to read, both signs need to face outward.  like this: https://www.google.com/maps/@39.9195898,-86.1650643,3a,15y,137.86h,92.36t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sK6phHNRnwT7BpQAIfVgwZw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

another one for me is: "roundabouts are more dangerous" NOT true or "traffic signals make things safer"  NOT true either (can be under certain circumstances)

[Jardine]

When the new missing kid signs aren't being used for missing kids or road closures, they should be displaying driving tips like using your goddamn turnsignals, not texting while driving, slowing down when the roads are coated in ice (no one in Wisconsin is aware of that one), not running over the guys trying to fix the damn road, etc.

[hotdogPi]

When the new missing kid signs aren't being used for missing kids or road closures, they should be displaying driving tips like using your goddamn turnsignals, not texting while driving, slowing down when the roads are coated in ice (no one in Wisconsin is aware of that one), not running over the guys trying to fix the damn road, etc.

I would rather see travel times (for example, in moderate traffic: 10 miles, 15 minutes)

[doorknob60]

People saying US 30 ends in California...

People actually think that? I'm trying to think of an excuse that would make people think that, but I can't think of one.

[cjk374]

The 2009 MUTCD, especially how freeway exits with one dropped and one option lane are treated. And yield signs at railroads. 

Thank you Tom! I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one who thinks the MUTCD screwed that up royally! 

Just my inner roadgeek, but I hate when multiplexes aren't signed.  I've been to a lot of places where a US or state route is "invisible" yet shares pavement with an interstate.

I realize people often use the Interstate for a thru route, but if there's a highway running along with it, put up some signs.

Arkansas will make you pull your teeth out with pliers. 

[noelbotevera]

People saying US 30 ends in California...

People actually think that? I'm trying to think of an excuse that would make people think that, but I can't think of one.

In Chambersburg and my classmates refused for me to correct them that US 30 ends at Astoria, OR, about 200 miles south of Seattle.

[doorknob60]

People saying US 30 ends in California...

People actually think that? I'm trying to think of an excuse that would make people think that, but I can't think of one.

In Chambersburg and my classmates refused for me to correct them that US 30 ends at Astoria, OR, about 200 miles south of Seattle.

I grew up in Oregon so everyone with even a basic understanding of the highways here knows what US-30 is. Or at least, they wouldn't think it was in California, even if they may not understand that it is multiplexed with I-84 for a significant distance and continues cross-country (I bet many people think it's a short highway from Portland to Astoria, and maybe know of "Historic US 30" in the Columbia Gorge). It does make me wonder what people from Oregon would answer if I asked where they thought US-20 (I'll use this instead of 30 because it's a highway on its own, not multiplexed with an Interstate most of the way) ended. I wonder how many people would answer something like Ontario or Caldwell.

My only other theory is that US-30 generally follows I-80 for a lot of its distance, before splitting away in Wyoming and following I-86 and I-84. Maybe some assume it generally follows I-80 all the way to SF.