The Worst of Road Signs

[TEG24601]

How does one judge a "good" font from a "bad" font?

Bad Fonts: Comic Sans, Fancy Fonts (i.e. anything that looks like handwriting, or isn't uniform)


Good Fonts: FHWA, Most things with Serifs on physical mediums, most things without Serifs on digital mediums.


My Favorite Serif Font is Palatino.

[Roadgeek Adam]

This is likely a first for me, and you wouldn't notice it unless you were walking on NY 415 in Cohocton.



Apparently Canadians are hinting at us that we should be using metric.

[TravelingBethelite]

How does it do that?

Anyway, here's one with a 'bad' font:

GEDC1388 by Samuel Mount, on Flickr

[silverback1065]

How does it do that?

Anyway, here's one with a 'bad' font:

GEDC1388 by Samuel Mount, on Flickr

Now that's a weird sign, a county highway shield just saying the name of the road and not the number.

[wolfiefrick]

To be honest, I don't know why there is so much hate for Comic Sans. It seems to be everywhere online at least.

It's also used in school papers. Most of my pre algebra papers used comic sans for pretty much everything. It's been everywhere, that it's so overused.

If you're eleven years old you didn't take pre-algebra... At least not yet.
iPhone

He would be. I don't know about PA's standards, but New York now starts in 4th-5th grade. I have a brother his age who has been doing algebra for more than a year.

I live in Missouri and I didn't start taking pre-algebra until 7th grade. I'm in 8th grade and taking Algebra 1 and in 9th grade I'll go right into honors geometry. After that I'll only need to do pre-calc and then maybe calculus in 10th grade, but I don't know anything about a 6th grader, much less a 4th grader, doing pre-algebra. What, did they learn how to multiply and divide fractions in kindergarten?

[noelbotevera]

To be honest, I don't know why there is so much hate for Comic Sans. It seems to be everywhere online at least.

It's also used in school papers. Most of my pre algebra papers used comic sans for pretty much everything. It's been everywhere, that it's so overused.

If you're eleven years old you didn't take pre-algebra... At least not yet.
iPhone

He would be. I don't know about PA's standards, but New York now starts in 4th-5th grade. I have a brother his age who has been doing algebra for more than a year.

I live in Missouri and I didn't start taking pre-algebra until 7th grade. I'm in 8th grade and taking Algebra 1 and in 9th grade I'll go right into honors geometry. After that I'll only need to do pre-calc and then maybe calculus in 10th grade, but I don't know anything about a 6th grader, much less a 4th grader, doing pre-algebra. What, did they learn how to multiply and divide fractions in kindergarten?

I take normal math in 5th grade. I was good at it, so here in PA, once you enter 6th grade, you're in pre algebra. You take Algebra 1 in 7th, Algebra 2 in 8th, honors-geometry in 9th, pre-calc in 10th, and then calculus in 11th.

[Mr. Matté]

Seen at a Whiting, New Jersey Dunkin' Donuts.
(source)

[Zeffy]

That's a little far north.

[jeffandnicole]

Seen at a Whiting, New Jersey Dunkin' Donuts.
(source)

Well, it's true!  Although it'll be quite a while before you find another sign directing you to I-70!.

[thenetwork]

Seen at a Whiting, New Jersey Dunkin' Donuts.
(source)

Well, it's true!  Although it'll be quite a while before you find another sign directing you to I-70!.

As long as it's pointing towards the South-West from Jersey, it does have some weight of accuracy.

[PHLBOS]

Seen at a Whiting, New Jersey Dunkin' Donuts.
(source)

Well, it's true!  Although it'll be quite a while before you find another sign directing you to I-70!.

As long as it's pointing towards the South-West from Jersey, it does have some weight of accuracy.

IMHO, that sign's falls more on the erroneous category than the worst of.

[signalman]

Seen at a Whiting, New Jersey Dunkin' Donuts.
(source)

Well, it's true!  Although it'll be quite a while before you find another sign directing you to I-70!.

As long as it's pointing towards the South-West from Jersey, it does have some weight of accuracy.

IMHO, that sign's falls more on the erroneous category than the worst of.

I felt the same way when I saw it.  I don't think any of us here would have given it a second thought or even photographed it if it were in a parking lot near an I-70 interchange.

[jwolfer]

Seen at a Whiting, New Jersey Dunkin' Donuts.
(source)

Well, it's true!  Although it'll be quite a while before you find another sign directing you to I-70!.

As long as it's pointing towards the South-West from Jersey, it does have some weight of accuracy.

IMHO, that sign's falls more on the erroneous category than the worst of.

I felt the same way when I saw it.  I don't think any of us here would have given it a second thought or even photographed it if it were in a parking lot near an I-70 interchange.

It illustrates how for many people the shield doesn't matter.. I see lots of print advertisments that use interstate or US shields for state or County roads. The dunkin donuts is on NJ state route 70. Many think its a  stylized design

[JoePCool14]

Seen at a Whiting, New Jersey Dunkin' Donuts.
(source)

Well, it's true!  Although it'll be quite a while before you find another sign directing you to I-70!.

As long as it's pointing towards the South-West from Jersey, it does have some weight of accuracy.

IMHO, that sign's falls more on the erroneous category than the worst of.

I felt the same way when I saw it.  I don't think any of us here would have given it a second thought or even photographed it if it were in a parking lot near an I-70 interchange.

It illustrates how for many people the shield doesn't matter.. I see lots of print advertisments that use interstate or US shields for state or County roads. The dunkin donuts is on NJ state route 70. Many think its a  stylized design

Frankly I have to wonder what goes through the minds of designers in that case. Do they not care, think it's funny, think it looks nice, want to piss off roadgeeks?

[cl94]

Seen at a Whiting, New Jersey Dunkin' Donuts.
(source)

Well, it's true!  Although it'll be quite a while before you find another sign directing you to I-70!.

As long as it's pointing towards the South-West from Jersey, it does have some weight of accuracy.

IMHO, that sign's falls more on the erroneous category than the worst of.

I felt the same way when I saw it.  I don't think any of us here would have given it a second thought or even photographed it if it were in a parking lot near an I-70 interchange.

It illustrates how for many people the shield doesn't matter.. I see lots of print advertisments that use interstate or US shields for state or County roads. The dunkin donuts is on NJ state route 70. Many think its a  stylized design

Frankly I have to wonder what goes through the minds of designers in that case. Do they not care, think it's funny, think it looks nice, want to piss off roadgeeks?

>95% of people don't care and over half probably don't realize that different shields indicate different types of routes. Seriously. That is why.

[vdeane]

Yeah, most people don't pick up on the things we do.  The majority of people don't know what a US or state route is, they just know that routes have numbers and some have blue signs and others have white signs.  Some might even know that interstates are freeways.

[jwolfer]

Yeah, most people don't pick up on the things we do.  The majority of people don't know what a US or state route is, they just know that routes have numbers and some have blue signs and others have white signs.  Some might even know that interstates are freeways.

And we argue about interstate designations, downgrades. When the general public its :xx, "route xx" or the dreaded "the xx"

I remember when I was 11 or 12 riding bikes on the soon to open last segment on I-195. I was so excited, but my friend kept calling it i95... Ugh!! To my preteen roadgeek ears

[noelbotevera]

Yeah, most people don't pick up on the things we do.  The majority of people don't know what a US or state route is, they just know that routes have numbers and some have blue signs and others have white signs.  Some might even know that interstates are freeways.

IN contrast, we learned this stuff before we turned a year old!

[formulanone]

Yeah, most people don't pick up on the things we do.  The majority of people don't know what a US or state route is, they just know that routes have numbers and some have blue signs and others have white signs.  Some might even know that interstates are freeways.

IN contrast, we learned this stuff before we turned a year old!

Exaggerating just a little? Your assignment today is to look up the word hyperbole.

[noelbotevera]

Yeah, most people don't pick up on the things we do.  The majority of people don't know what a US or state route is, they just know that routes have numbers and some have blue signs and others have white signs.  Some might even know that interstates are freeways.

IN contrast, we learned this stuff before we turned a year old!

Exaggerating just a little? Your assignment today is to look up the word hyperbole.

That is supposed to be an exaggeration...but I hate to ruin my exaggerations when I have to explain them.

[JoePCool14]

Yeah, most people don't pick up on the things we do.  The majority of people don't know what a US or state route is, they just know that routes have numbers and some have blue signs and others have white signs.  Some might even know that interstates are freeways.

Like when others I know don't even notice that US-41 is now I-41 in Wisconsin.

[bzakharin]

This reminds me of a phone book map sticking an I-90 shield on NJ 90. When I showed it to my father, he said "are you sure it's not an interstate? Doesn't it go to Philadelphia?" Thank goodness NJ doesn't duplicate route numbers for different types of routes. I don't know what people do in Delaware, for example.

[Alex4897]

This reminds me of a phone book map sticking an I-90 shield on NJ 90. When I showed it to my father, he said "are you sure it's not an interstate? Doesn't it go to Philadelphia?" Thank goodness NJ doesn't duplicate route numbers for different types of routes. I don't know what people do in Delaware, for example.

I've never come across (or at the very least I don't remember) a situation where confusion was caused by our two Route 9's, and I'll attest that to the fact that the southern half of DE 9 is pretty sparse and lightly used.  The only point at which the average traveller would come across its southern reaches are when it terminates at DE 1 near the Dover Air Force Base, otherwise the next time it hits a relatively busy corridor is all the way up in Delaware City or New Castle.
On the other hand, I find people get confused between which Route 1 is being referred to (at least in traffic reports) due to the proximity of PA's segment of US 1.

[machias]

Yeah, most people don't pick up on the things we do.  The majority of people don't know what a US or state route is, they just know that routes have numbers and some have blue signs and others have white signs.  Some might even know that interstates are freeways.

And we argue about interstate designations, downgrades. When the general public its :xx, "route xx" or the dreaded "the xx"

I remember when I was 11 or 12 riding bikes on the soon to open last segment on I-195. I was so excited, but my friend kept calling it i95... Ugh!! To my preteen roadgeek ears

Why is it the "dreaded the xx"?  For many years I was very happy road geek driving the 90, the 190, the 290, the 400 and the 33 in the Buffalo area.

[jwolfer]

Yeah, most people don't pick up on the things we do.  The majority of people don't know what a US or state route is, they just know that routes have numbers and some have blue signs and others have white signs.  Some might even know that interstates are freeways.

And we argue about interstate designations, downgrades. When the general public its :xx, "route xx" or the dreaded "the xx"

I remember when I was 11 or 12 riding bikes on the soon to open last segment on I-195. I was so excited, but my friend kept calling it i95... Ugh!! To my preteen roadgeek ears

Why is it the "dreaded the xx"?  For many years I was very happy road geek driving the 90, the 190, the 290, the 400 and the 33 in the Buffalo area.

I just don't like the southern California usage.. My nephew went to high school in San Diego and came back to Jacksonville and talked about driving on "the 10" or "the 95"