The Worst of Road Signs

[jakeroot]

Exit 2 on I-565 heading west:

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5551/14913485589_6233c7f668.jpg

"Exit sub 2".

[Roadrunner75]

Exit 2 on I-565 heading west:

"Exit sub 2".

Or a molecule of diexitonium

[freebrickproductions]

Road Work 1   Mile by freebrickproductions, on Flickr

[Eth]

(hard to see, larger view here)

Speed limit sign on FL 2 in Graceville. All in Helvetica, except for the digit 3, which looks like FHWA Series E.

Oh, and from what I recall this seems to be standard throughout Jackson County. Always in all Helvetica, unless the digit 3 is present, in which case that digit is Series E.

[US 41]

[Molandfreak]

^Good to know!

[jakeroot]

174 k's in Australia is like a typical American commute, according to my friend who resides in QLD.

[cl94]

174 k's in Australia is like a typical American commute, according to my friend who resides in QLD.

Typical commute for where? That's like going from Montauk to Manhattan every day which, while people do it, is quite the distance. Average commute here from what I've seen is under 50 miles.

[1995hoo]

174 k's in Australia is like a typical American commute, according to my friend who resides in QLD.

Typical commute for where? That's like going from Montauk to Manhattan every day which, while people do it, is quite the distance. Average commute here from what I've seen is under 50 miles.

I think the point is his friend in Queensland is stereotyping Americans.

A lot of people in other countries seem to think Americans drive long distances for things. I don't see how 30 miles roundtrip to go to the mall at Tysons Corner is a "long distance" to drive, but my British friends think it sounds like a really long way.

[Brandon]

174 k's in Australia is like a typical American commute, according to my friend who resides in QLD.

Typical commute for where? That's like going from Montauk to Manhattan every day which, while people do it, is quite the distance. Average commute here from what I've seen is under 50 miles.

I think the point is his friend in Queensland is stereotyping Americans.

A lot of people in other countries seem to think Americans drive long distances for things. I don't see how 30 miles roundtrip to go to the mall at Tysons Corner is a "long distance" to drive, but my British friends think it sounds like a really long way.

Then we get into what I call "eastern" and "western" distances.  Someone from the East (including Chicago) will go 30 miles roundtrip and think nothing of it, but 200 miles roundtrip sounds excessive to them.  Someone from the West, especially the Inter-Mountain West, will think of 200 miles or 300 miles roundtrip in a day as nothing.

[J N Winkler]

I think the point is his friend in Queensland is stereotyping Americans.

A lot of people in other countries seem to think Americans drive long distances for things. I don't see how 30 miles roundtrip to go to the mall at Tysons Corner is a "long distance" to drive, but my British friends think it sounds like a really long way.

Britain is a bit strange when it comes to average mileages, partly because the procedural barriers to vehicle keepership and becoming a driver are higher than here.  There are quite a few people born and raised in Britain who rarely, if ever, leave their home county by any form of transport, let alone a private car.  However, there is a floating occupational group of travelling salesmen (called "reps," with the vehicles they stereotypically drive being called "repmobiles") who rack up tens of thousands of miles annually, which is quite easy to do when someone else is paying for the fuel.  The overall result is that car ownership and use tends to select for the high-mileage drivers a bit more than in the US, so per capita average annual mileages are not very different between the US and the UK.

The next time your British friends raise an eyebrow about a 30-mile roundtrip to Tysons Corner, you might ask them how long a drive it is to the nearest out-of-town supermarket or retail complex.  As an example, Bluewater in Kent is somewhat similar to Potomac Mills in northern Virginia both in format and depth of trading hinterland.

[vdeane]

At one place I worked, I shared an office with someone who would regularly drive from Utica to Syracuse for grocery shopping just so he could go to Wegmans.

[J N Winkler]

At one place I worked, I shared an office with someone who would regularly drive from Utica to Syracuse for grocery shopping just so he could go to Wegmans.

A family friend who was a Midwestern transplant in central Massachusetts used her grandfather-in-law, who back in the 1930's would drive up to New Hampshire just to save two cents per dozen eggs, as an example of the swamp Yankee mentality.

[agentsteel53]

if you can make it 174km, you do not have an emergency.

[1995hoo]

At one place I worked, I shared an office with someone who would regularly drive from Utica to Syracuse for grocery shopping just so he could go to Wegmans.

My parents say when we lived in Copperas Cove they regularly drove 75 to 80 miles (one-way) to Austin if they needed to go shopping for clothes. Can't say I remember because we moved to Virginia when I was one year old.

When I was in college I used to drive about 15 miles out to Crozet, Virginia, to go to the Con Agra thrift store at the frozen food plant. They sold "defective" stuff there at a big discount–for example, frozen pizzas that were two for $5 at Kroger were 92¢ each out there because they had either too much or too little pepperoni. My friends all thought I was crazy to drive 30 miles roundtrip to buy food, but the car I had then got 30+ mpg (a 1982 Honda Accord) and gas was around 99¢ a gallon at the time, so why not?! It's not like a 15-mile drive takes a long time on the rural roads west of Charlottesville. I guess it sounds farther than it is when you spend the vast majority of your time on UVA's Central Grounds.

[6a]

I think the point is his friend in Queensland is stereotyping Americans.

A lot of people in other countries seem to think Americans drive long distances for things. I don't see how 30 miles roundtrip to go to the mall at Tysons Corner is a "long distance" to drive, but my British friends think it sounds like a really long way.

That's the whole "100 miles / 100 years" thing. 100 miles being a long way to the British, 100 years is a long time to an American. My wife games a ton with some folks in the UK, this comes up a lot with them.

[jakeroot]

I feel like a complete twonk, but when I wrote my original post, I meant for it to say along the lines of "174km is like a commute in Australia"' not America. My Queenslander friends drive thousands of kilometres a month. An 1100 km drive is a daily trip to them.

One time, he wanted us to pick something up for him from Montana. The way he asked was along the lines of "when you find yourself near Montana, could you stop over at Jeff's place, MATE?" As though we drive by all the time? Sorry, friend, but Montana is a fly-drive trip.

[jbnv]

At one place I worked, I shared an office with someone who would regularly drive from Utica to Syracuse for grocery shopping just so he could go to Wegmans.

My parents say when we lived in Copperas Cove they regularly drove 75 to 80 miles (one-way) to Austin if they needed to go shopping for clothes. Can't say I remember because we moved to Virginia when I was one year old.

I remember when I was very young that my mother and grandmother would drive from Lafayette to Crowley (20 miles one-way) just to go to Walmart. Because at that time, Walmart was not yet moving into "big" cities.

1100km is someone's daily commute? If you average 100km (about 60mi) per hour, that's 11 hours of driving!

[cl94]

At one place I worked, I shared an office with someone who would regularly drive from Utica to Syracuse for grocery shopping just so he could go to Wegmans.

My parents say when we lived in Copperas Cove they regularly drove 75 to 80 miles (one-way) to Austin if they needed to go shopping for clothes. Can't say I remember because we moved to Virginia when I was one year old.

I remember when I was very young that my mother and grandmother would drive from Lafayette to Crowley (20 miles one-way) just to go to Walmart. Because at that time, Walmart was not yet moving into "big" cities.

1100km is someone's daily commute? If you average 100km (about 60mi) per hour, that's 11 hours of driving!

Their highest speed limit is 130, but that's only in 1 territory and would still take 9 hours.

[Kacie Jane]

Perhaps Jake is being a twonk again (I like that word, consider it added to my lexicon), as I can see how it may be misworded, but I read it as no, 174km is the daily commute, but it's not far out of the ordinary for 1100km to be a nice day trip mini-vacation.

Whereas here in America, the most I'd do for a day trip would be maybe the Oregon beaches.  Google tells me Seaside is 154-161 miles away from me, depending on whether I take I-5 or US 101.  So, times 2, convert to kilometers, only 515 km driving for that day trip. ...... Google also tells me my commute is 165km long (56 miles one-way) though, so perhaps don't take my driving habits as typical.

[empirestate]

I feel like a complete twonk, but when I wrote my original post, I meant for it to say along the lines of "174km is like a commute in Australia"' not America.

That's how I read it, actually. I knew what you meant, but thought the wording was a bit twonky.

[agentsteel53]

it's not far out of the ordinary for 1100km to be a nice day trip mini-vacation.

that's me.  I do 800 miles in a day very regularly, and sometimes as much as 1200.  I've been known to get up at 2am, do a quick run to San Francisco, and be home by 10pm.

[silverback1065]

it's not far out of the ordinary for 1100km to be a nice day trip mini-vacation.

that's me.  I do 800 miles in a day very regularly, and sometimes as much as 1200.  I've been known to get up at 2am, do a quick run to San Francisco, and be home by 10pm.

wow! for fun (spur of the moment trip) or for work?

[Pete from Boston]

Wow, I'm so wiped out from work by any day off that 300 miles is about my limit without a partner to switch off.  400 I can do, but then there starts being extra recovery time. 

I also wander off too damn much to cover that much ground in a day unless there's a good reason to get to wherever it is quickly.

But really, if you go that far, isn't it worth capitalizing on all that travel by sticking around a bit?  Gas and time are expensive. 

[1995hoo]

Just flat-out fugly. This is on mall property at Tysons Corner Center (Bloomingdales is ahead to the left there) and the sign was presumably erected by management. I don't expect a private entity to get things perfect, but the shields and numbers are just plain hideous. I kind of like the arrows, though I'd like them more if they were lined up better with the shields.