Odd Things Some DOT's Do

[froggie]

MnDOT recently put them on a stretch of MN 55 in Wright County (east of Buffalo, IIRC).

Basically a reminder to drivers to keep a safe distance between them and the vehicle ahead of them...something too few drivers do these days.  Could be that PennDOT put them in on segments where there have been too many rear-end accidents from drivers following too closely.

[Hellfighter]

Here we go...

[njroadhorse]

You would think people could see the trains


This is a speed limit fail:

[burgess87]

This would be useful along Main ST in downtown Buffalo, where the NFTA MetroRail is above ground.  It's difficult sometimes to see the trains.

[PAHighways]

PennDOT with their dopey yellow clearview signs

"Don't Tailgate"

"Drive Safely"

etc

Here's my thought of one

"Drive Interstate 80. Our Governor Wants Your Money"

Those signs are so annoying

The one that gets me is a warning about a section of road having a high number of drunk drivers.  Makes me wonder, if they know there are a lot of drunk drivers in an area to warrant a sign, why not put cops in that section to watch out for said drivers?

[PAHighways]

Pennsylvania has these too:

Those areas with "Keep Min 2 Dots Apart" are annoying. 

I don't understand how PennDOT thinks these will help.  I've only seen these in Pennsylvania.

They still think signs like "STOP," "SPEED LIMIT...," and "KEEP RIGHT/PASS LEFT" do any good.

[Michael]

What ever happened to the "two-second rule"?!

[myosh_tino]

What ever happened to the "two-second rule"?!

Two seconds?!?  I was taught the Three-second rule  but here in California, if you leave a 3-second gap you're asking to get cut-off on the freeway.

[City]

I think that these signs I saw at usends.com are really odd and interesting. If you're going down I-70 towards Denver, you'd see these signs:









But I personally like generic sign wording better.

[mightyace]

Pennsylvania has these too:

Those areas with "Keep Min 2 Dots Apart" are annoying. 

I don't understand how PennDOT thinks these will help.  I've only seen these in Pennsylvania.

They still think signs like "STOP," "SPEED LIMIT...," and "KEEP RIGHT/PASS LEFT" do any good.

Near my hometown they have those silly dots on US 11 NB between Bloomsburg and Berwick and I-80 Eastbound between exit 242 (PA 339) and the rest area.

Another one I've seen on I-80 is "Buckle Up Next Million Miles" and before Pennsy finally raised the speed limit to 65 there were big signs that said.  "PENNSYLVANIA'S SPEED LIMIT IS STILL 55 MPH"

[J N Winkler]

Re. following rules, two seconds is the standard advice in the UK both for motorways and surface roads.  The rule I was taught when I was learning how to drive (using the AAA textbook Sportsmanlike Driving) was two seconds on low-speed surface roads and four seconds on high-speed roads.  Personally, I regard these rules as minima and tend to adjust following distance upward when I sense my alertness is eroding, as often happens on freeways with little traffic.  For comfort I tend to prefer it when, if I can see it at all, the car in front of me just barely breaks the horizon line.

[Chris]

2 seconds would significantly increase congestion in the Netherlands... The Coen Tunnel in Amsterdam (A10 beltway) has a staggering 3,000 vehicles per hour per lane during peak hours, which means the average following distance is less than one second to achieve that. The practical capacity is more like 1,800 vehicles per hour per lane with a 2-second distance.

I had one accident in the past 3 years, and that was because I didn't kept enough following distance. (It happend just 3 months after I got my license, I didn't have much experience yet). Now I tend to keep more following distance, especially when there's a big vehicle in front of me. I like to see what's going on in front of me, by looking past or through the vehicle in front of me.

[flowmotion]

California I-80 in the Sierra mountains also has a few "trucker talk" signs



I also like how Illinois signs the names of the expressways in the Chicago area. I wish California would do something similar.


(from http://www.billburmaster.com/rmsandw/illinois/interstate/90il.html)

[Duke87]

Two seconds?!?  I was taught the Three-second rule  but here in California, if you leave a 3-second gap you're asking to get cut-off on the freeway.

Given that that's a state thing, not a national thing, there are going to be 50 slightly different versions of it.

The Connecticut driver's manual says 2 seconds behind a car. But it's 3 seconds behind a motorcycle. It contradicts itself on trucks. Says 2 seconds in one place and 4 seconds in another (the correct answer if you get that question on the written test is 2). Behind a fire truck, it's not a measure of time, but of distance: 500 feet. That's 11.36 seconds at 30 mph. Nobody follows that one.

The two second rule is a thing that came about in the 90's, though. When my father learned to drive, the oft repeated rule of thumb was "a car length for every 5 mph". Which, for a typical sized car, does actually work out to about 2 seconds.

[deathtopumpkins]

My Virginia manual said 2 seconds up to 35 mph, 3 seconds up to 55 mph, and 4 seconds above that, I believe.
Though I never actually take the time to count this out or anything, I just stay far enough behind someone so as not to hit them if they slam on their brakes.

[Scott5114]

Wisconsin and their one overhead horizontal stoplight at every intersection, in amongst 2 or three vertical ones. Also, their tendency to post black-background Interstate shields (well, better than white-background, I guess).

Illinois Tollway is just bizarre all the way. No exit numbers. I've seen an exit sign that just says RAMP on it. Button copy milemarkers. Milemarkers with halves marked "89 1/2".Toll collectors that get upset if you take pictures. And so on.

[roadfro]

I also like how Illinois signs the names of the expressways in the Chicago area. I wish California would do something similar.

California signs some freeway names, although sporadically and not in the same manner.  The one that seems to be signed fairly consistently, at least from another freeway, is the I-80 Business / "Capital City Freeway".

[Truvelo]

In the north of Scotland is a road about 100 miles long between two cities with virtual isolation in between. Some of the road is divided whilst the rest is just two lanes. Traffic levels mean there's normally a line of traffic behind something slow moving and accidents occur regularly. About five years ago these signs were installed to let the lead vehicle in a convoy know about the problem. For those who aren't familiar with British English overtaking means passing and a layby is a pull in at the side of the road. There's one about every 1/2 mile on each side of the road.

As you can see in the pictures, there's grading for a second carriageway to be added

[Chris]

I like signs like that. In NL, they just ban passing. 

[froggie]

There's something similar on WA 20 on Whidbey Island (south of Oak Harbor), where if there's a slow-mover and there's a line of traffic behind them, they're required to use the "layover" (WSDOT signs it as something different, but don't remember offhand) to let the traffic behind them pass.

[Michael]

LOL @ those trucker signs posted earlier! 

[Revive 755]

"Via county road" signing.

NDOR does that also; would be nice if they would specify the quality of the county road (gravel or paved).

Nebraska also names exits on distance signs on I-80, usually using a control city signed at the exit.

Iowa
* Gives the interchange number on the side roads at interchanges with interstates.

* Will post tourist attractions on guide signs and use a horizontal line to separate such from another control city or vice versa - see one of the signs with "Kalona Village Museum".

Illinois

* More frequent use of turn lanes on rural expressways, sometimes signing them like this:
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=39.6204,-90.295515&spn=0,359.945068&z=15&layer=c&cbll=39.620111,-90.295522&panoid=KhY9_oKvWYIqrHalq5ErIA&cbp=12,359.26,,0,5.28

* Extensive use of blank out "Left Turn Yield" signs on traffic lights:
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=38.545883,-90.195308&spn=0,359.945068&z=15&layer=c&cbll=38.543842,-90.195292&panoid=wB2juCBxa2GQ71ys9GCBSQ&cbp=12,183.79,,0,-2.52

[Ian]

Here are more things I have noticed...

-Delaware absolutely HATES traffic signal sun visor backplates. I only know of 2 in the whole state.

-Vermont extensevely uses Canada's version of the Econolite signal:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Iansignal/VermontTrafficSignalsAndRoadSigns#5376248101336945298

-Maine likes installing traffic signal span wires on telephone poles

-New Hampshire and Vermont like installing these "grooved shoulders"  signs:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Iansignal/NewHampshireTrafficSignalsAndRoadSigns#5353907715616613474

-Almost all signal mast arms in California (and a few other western states) are curved.

-Delaware's extensive use of the "Dolly Parton"  signal:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Iansignal/DelawareTrafficSignalsAndRoadSigns#5347724650360636594

-Maryland's use of gigantic exit tabs

Ian

[bugo]

Occasionally ODOT can't think of a second control point for distance signage and will post distance to "END OF ROUTE". This is the only time you will see a state highway referred to as a "route" in Oklahoma (apart from Route 66)

Will not post triangular no passing signs.

There's one of these signs in east Tulsa but I think it was posted by the city or county.

[froggie]

Delaware absolutely HATES traffic signal sun visor backplates. I only know of 2 in the whole state.

Backplates are the exception rather than the rule in neighboring Maryland...

Delaware's extensive use of the "Dolly Parton"  signal:

Curious where you got this term from...