The Quest for a Better STOP Sign?

[US71]

http://www.slate.com/id/2254863/

In an Internet parody called "The Process," a designer is given a corporate gig with a simple brief: to design a new stop sign. "We're seeing reports that people don't know what to do at an intersection," he is told, and from there it descends in an absurd spiral of tweaks and redesigns, with the designer's creative vision cast against the slow strangulation of groupthink. While the video is a hilarious send-up of the corporate design process, its premise–that designing an effective stop sign is actually a simple task–couldn't be farther from the truth.

In reality, the design of the stop sign, however seemingly settled, is not necessarily ideal. In 1998, for example, there were more than 700,000 crashes at intersections marked–or "controlled," as engineers say–by stop signs. More than 3,000 of these were fatal. Laura Bush's new biography, Speaking From the Heart, highlights the stop sign's role in the fatal crash she caused in high school: She drove through an intersection marked by a stop sign, striking the car of a good friend and killing him. She notes, among other factors, that the stop sign was too small (current signs are larger, and mounted higher, among other changes).

[agentsteel53]

(One thing four-way stops have in their favor, however, is a superior safety record to two-way stops–and to traffic signals, for that matter).

that's because all the collisions are at low speed.  If we made drivers stop at the intersection, get out, and walk the rest of the way, the safety record would be even higher.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

Speaking of stop signs. I noticed yesterday that a new reflective stop sign sticker was slapped over the existing stop sign at the end of my road.

[agentsteel53]

was the new sticker placed over the mounting bolts on the old one?  I've seen repaint jobs that did that - i.e. not even bothering to take the sign off the pole - but not a resheeting.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

was the new sticker placed over the mounting bolts on the old one?  I've seen repaint jobs that did that - i.e. not even bothering to take the sign off the pole - but not a resheeting.

Yep, right over the bolts.

[US71]

Yep, right over the bolts.

Oklahoma does that:

[realjd]

The Slate article linked to the (poorly designed) website talking about a new sign being tested in Nevada. It is put on the back of opposing stop signs and gives a visual representation of an intersection's right-of-way:
http://www.vaughnthomas.us/DA1aGbI1.html

It seems like an interesting concept.

[hm insulators]

http://www.slate.com/id/2254863/

In an Internet parody called "The Process," a designer is given a corporate gig with a simple brief: to design a new stop sign. "We're seeing reports that people don't know what to do at an intersection," he is told, and from there it descends in an absurd spiral of tweaks and redesigns, with the designer's creative vision cast against the slow strangulation of groupthink. While the video is a hilarious send-up of the corporate design process, its premise–that designing an effective stop sign is actually a simple task–couldn't be farther from the truth.

"The Process" was very funny!