Youthful Misconceptions

[kennyshark]

On my first trip to Florida in the '70s, I was elated to see I-285 in Atlanta signed as "Bypass to Florida" on I-75 going south.  My 10-year-old mind thought we were almost there! Alas, my mom set me straight and soon enough, reality set in-we were nowhere near Florida and didn't get there until the next afternoon.

Don't know if the sign still reads the same way (I tend to doubt it), but to this day, I think that's a real cruel/misleading sign to younger passengers.  Especially if you've been cooped up in a station wagon for seemingly forever.

[OracleUsr]

That "A" as an exit suffix always meant East or South, "B" always meant West or North.

[roadman]

When I was about 5, I saw extruded overhead signs for the first time and thought they were made out of recycled guardrail.

[J N Winkler]

Another misconception:

*  The order of destinations on an advance guide sign/exit direction sign matters.  (It does, but only in states that specify an order based on ramp first encountered or side of the freeway on which the destination lies.)

[ce929wax]

Another misconception I had until I was not so young (~middle school), is that I thought the sun corresponded with the time zone lines.  I had this idea that if I was close enough to the time zone line that the sky would be dark, but I could still see the sun in the east for a few miles from the time zone line.  I was also shocked to discover that when I moved from Michigan to California in August of 1997, that the sun didn't set at around 9 p.m. in California like it did in Michigan.

[planxtymcgillicuddy]

I used to think as a kid that rumble strips would actually sound like music when you went across them lol

[CtrlAltDel]

I used to think as a kid that rumble strips would actually sound like music when you went across them lol

Well, there is this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6l2vSsavVZs

[planxtymcgillicuddy]

I used to think as a kid that rumble strips would actually sound like music when you went across them lol

Well, there is this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6l2vSsavVZs

Isn't there something like that on I-10 somewhere in Florida? Maybe near the Suwanee River bridge?

[kphoger]

I used to think that, if a highway carried a certain number designation, then it would be signed with that number.  So, for example, when in high school back in the 1990s I planned the driving route for a family vacation, my mom thought we were on the wrong road at one point.  My directions said we'd be on Texas County Highway 24 (Oklahoma), but all the signs said Oklahoma State Highway 136.  I had chosen that number instead of 136 because transitioning from SH-25 to CH-24 seemed easier to remember to me. 

[Eth]

As a kid I thought that "no outlet" meant the street ended in a cul-de-sac, as opposed to a dead end being more of a "hard" stop.

[crispy93]

General:

• My parents told me it was illegal to turn on the reading light while driving
• I misunderstood my mom, and thought if you turn your blinker on, the car will make the lane change for you (Teslas can actually do this now)
• If there was a frequently congested area, I wondered why they didn't just raise the speed limit so everyone would get through faster
• "Left Turn Signal" was a reminder to use your blinker when turning left

Specifically:

• I used to think the Taconic ended at the Sprain since the transition is pretty smooth and proceeding straight puts you on the Sprain
• I thought Sunrise Highway on LI was a surface road for its entire run to Montauk, until the GPS told me to take it one day and found out it was a freeway (that should be 65 mph!)
• Thought the entire NJT was I-95
• Didn't know 3-di interstates could be repeated. I was confused as to how the Throgs Neck and Del Mem Bridges were both I-295
  
• Growing up in the Bronx, my mom thought the 95/278 signs for New England meant it was a trans-Atlantic highway. Those signs now say New Haven, CT

[webny99]

General:

• My parents told me it was illegal to turn on the reading light while driving

Well, it is annoying as heck driving at night when interior lights are on, so that's one way to scare the kids into keeping them off!

[RobbieL2415]

I use to think that:

* Left on red was not an actual concept.
* It is unlawful to use the full potential of the merge area
* At a three-way intersection with no control sings it is automatically a three-way stop (as opposed to a yield for the ending road)
* You couldn't pass on a one-way street wide enough for passing but with no lane markings.
* Peds have absolute ROW at all times
* Three-point turns were illegal except on side streets
* You must absolutely not block any intersection (CT only requires you to keep an intersection clear if it is signed and striped)
* It is unlawful for school busses to turn right on red (no statute prohibiting this, it's just company policy)
* You can turn into any lane from a one-lane road (CT is one of the few states that requires "closest lane" turns; you must complete your turn in the lane closest to the center line.  I seem to be the only driver around that follow this.)

[ErmineNotyours]

I flipped the word order for the signs for pedestrian scrambles "Walk all ways with WALK", and thought it said "always walk with WALK", and was trying to tell peds never to jaywalk.

[roadman65]

I used to take the Drug Free School Zone signs as literal meaning that no child used drugs at the school it was implying.  That was until the erected one in my neighborhood where I grew up.  Then I knew it was just a wish and even so for those previous signs I saw elsewhere.

Now grown up I know its the name of a campaign  and where local authorities crack down on dealers selling to children has moved into that particular school area.

[kphoger]

Youthful misconception:  I thought it was always illegal to walk across the street mid-block.

[J N Winkler]

Youthful misconception:  I thought it was always illegal to walk across the street mid-block.

So did I.  I can see why the grownups didn't rush to disabuse us of that erroneous idea, however.

[thenetwork]

When I was a kid, I thought that US Highways were built to higher standards than regular State highways.  Where I used to live in NE Ohio, many of the US Routes had curbs -- even in the rural areas -- while state routes didnt, for example.

[Scott5114]

I used to take the Drug Free School Zone signs as literal meaning that no child used drugs at the school it was implying.  That was until the erected one in my neighborhood where I grew up.  Then I knew it was just a wish and even so for those previous signs I saw elsewhere.

What, were you proud of being the reason they didn't get a Drug Free School Zone sign?

[jakeroot]

These are things I've noticed as I drive in other states. I've not been a roadgeek since I was in diapers, so these are quite specific:

* FREEWAY ENTRANCE signs are not a national thing (most states don't seem to sign their on-ramps as explicitly)
* urban speed limits: in WA, ~99% of urban freeway lane-miles have the same speed limit; elsewhere, urban limits seem to have a wider range (CA comes to mind).

[kurumi]

When I was a wee lad in CT:

Friend who lived in a town on US 6: My dad says Route 6 goes to California

Me: no way, only Interstates can do that

Friend: Interstate means "in the state"

... that's a lot of wrong

[planxtymcgillicuddy]

A misconception of mine that was debunked just today-I thought the arrows/shields on BGSs were either painted on or was vinyl graphics. That is not the case, the for the arrow in the picture would have went with the other part of the sign

[J N Winkler]

A misconception of mine that was debunked just today-I thought the arrows/shields on BGSs were either painted on or was vinyl graphics. That is not the case, the for the arrow in the picture would have went with the other part of the sign

That is actually not a misconception--the sign in the photo has what appears to be a demountable arrow, but there are many signs where shields, arrows, and other copy are direct-applied or produced by a screen process.  I have also heard of a sign fabrication procedure where the background (not the foreground elements such as legend, arrows, etc.) is applied on top of a reflective substrate, but I do not think I have ever seen any examples in the field.  (Supposedly this process is favored for signs subject to vandalism since it leaves no foreground elements that can be peeled off to change the message.)

[1995hoo]

Here's a non-youthful misconception: A guy at my office who is older than I am was adamant one day recently that federal law prohibits any speed limit higher than 55 mph.

Seriously, he didn't believe me when I said that law was repealed in 1995 and that it had been amended in the late 1980s to allow 65 on some roads. I showed him an 85-mph sign on TX-130 and he seemed to think it was fake.

I can't fathom how limited one's travel must be to believe the old 55-mph version of the NMSL is still in effect.

[TheArkansasRoadgeek]

A misconception of mine that was debunked just today-I thought the arrows/shields on BGSs were either painted on or was vinyl graphics. That is not the case, the for the arrow in the picture would have went with the other part of the sign

That is actually not a misconception--the sign in the photo has what appears to be a demountable arrow, but there are many signs where shields, arrows, and other copy are direct-applied or produced by a screen process.  I have also heard of a sign fabrication procedure where the background (not the foreground elements such as legend, arrows, etc.) is applied on top of a reflective substrate, but I do not think I have ever seen any examples in the field.  (Supposedly this process is favored for signs subject to vandalism since it leaves no foreground elements that can be peeled off to change the message.)

This is a standard within Arkansas. We use demountable legend on OH sign structures and direct applied legend on destination signage.