Only in this state....

[InterstateNG]

Ohio on holiday weekends, maybe.

[PHX06]

I stand corrected. Only in Georgia, Ohio, and Virginia**

It seems like there's a state that's notorious for unreasonable ticketing in every region of the country, actually. I've heard rumors of $2,000+ out-of-stater "superspeeder" tickets issued in Virginia, and you all are now claiming Ohio is the same.

Georgia is a very well-placed speed trap, as lots of traffic is heading through it to Florida, and apparently lots of us are going fast. You can't drive I-75 for ten miles without seeing either a cop waiting or somebody being pulled over. GA also uses cruel techniques such as one cop on the top of an overpass and another at the end of the onramp, as well as extensive 55mph construction zones that have NO work going on for weeks.

[kkt]

I stand corrected. Only in Georgia, Ohio, and Virginia**

It seems like there's a state that's notorious for unreasonable ticketing in every region of the country, actually. I've heard rumors of $2,000+ out-of-stater "superspeeder" tickets issued in Virginia, and you all are now claiming Ohio is the same.

Georgia is a very well-placed speed trap, as lots of traffic is heading through it to Florida, and apparently lots of us are going fast. You can't drive I-75 for ten miles without seeing either a cop waiting or somebody being pulled over. GA also uses cruel techniques such as one cop on the top of an overpass and another at the end of the onramp, as well as extensive 55mph construction zones that have NO work going on for weeks.

Isn't it unconstitutional to charge out-of-state drivers a higher fine than in-state drivers? "Equal justice under the law" and all that?

I do remember an awful lot of speeding people in Georgia.

[twinsfan87]

Minnesota (if I remember right) uses an odd yellow-and-black reflective marker at the beginning and end of guardrails. One is a triangle pointing down, the other is pointing up. Never could figure out what those were for.

I've started becoming aware of just how many little extra signs like that Minnesota uses.  I assumed the little guard rail signs were to alert drivers (both cars and snowmobiles) of the guard rail's location when it's completely covered with snow.

Those are for snow plows to know when to raise or lower their blades due to the guardrail. Those signs are also sometimes used to show when curbs begin and end (for the same reason).

[1995hoo]

If I am not mistaken, both California and Southern Nevada also use ceramic buttons instead of the standard paint lane striping.  I have not seen these used anywhere else, although FDOT was experimenting with them on both FL 50 and I-4 in certain parts of Orlando.

Not in one state only, but in one region of the country.

Are you referring to Botts dots? I recall seeing those on Kauai in the Lihue area, though it's been almost 10 years since I visited there so I have no idea whether they're still in use.

[twinsfan87]

A few for Minnesota that I don't think have been mentioned...

- Extensive use of "kicker posts" behind their u-channel-mounted signs. (Example: http://goo.gl/maps/muFG8 )
- Use of those yellow-on-black reflectors on pretty much any median opening (Pretty much all Keep Right signs have one attached to them).
- All state highways (including US and Interstate highways) are referred to as "Trunk Highways" by MnDOT. (Interstates sometimes are exempt from this, but I think officially I-94 is TH 94 to MnDOT).
- County highways are known as CSAH or CR (County State-Aid Highway, pronounced "cuh-saw" in engineering lingo, or County Road) depending on their source of funding (Examples: CSAH 81 vs. CR 116 in Hennepin County).

[D-Dey65]

I stand corrected. Only in Georgia, Ohio, and Virginia**
Georgia is a very well-placed speed trap, as lots of traffic is heading through it to Florida, and apparently lots of us are going fast. You can't drive I-75 for ten miles without seeing either a cop waiting or somebody being pulled over. GA also uses cruel techniques such as one cop on the top of an overpass and another at the end of the onramp, as well as extensive 55mph construction zones that have NO work going on for weeks.

Sometimes it also gets that way on I-95. I remember just south of one of the interchanges in Brunswick some local deputy sheriff slowed down to a crawl right in front of me before he was getting ready to pull over into the median to watch for speeders. This damn cop was blocking traffic in the passing lane!

   

I was ready to tell this cop to move his ass! I couldn't wait to get out of Georgia after all that paranoia!

[agentsteel53]

A few for Minnesota that I don't think have been mentioned...

- Extensive use of "kicker posts" behind their u-channel-mounted signs. (Example: http://goo.gl/maps/muFG8 )

Nevada does this very frequently as well.

- All state highways (including US and Interstate highways) are referred to as "Trunk Highways" by MnDOT. (Interstates sometimes are exempt from this, but I think officially I-94 is TH 94 to MnDOT).

does Wisconsin do this?  I know back in the day they did.  their first pre-US system was all 'trunk highways', and in fact the route markers specifically said so.

[Big John]

A few for Minnesota that I don't think have been mentioned...

- Extensive use of "kicker posts" behind their u-channel-mounted signs. (Example: http://goo.gl/maps/muFG8 )

Nevada does this very frequently as well.

- All state highways (including US and Interstate highways) are referred to as "Trunk Highways" by MnDOT. (Interstates sometimes are exempt from this, but I think officially I-94 is TH 94 to MnDOT).

does Wisconsin do this?  I know back in the day they did.  their first pre-US system was all 'trunk highways', and in fact the route markers specifically said so.

For Wisconsin, It is STH for State Trunk Highway, CTH for County Trunk Highway and IH for interstate Highway.

[The High Plains Traveler]

A few for Minnesota that I don't think have been mentioned...

- Extensive use of "kicker posts" behind their u-channel-mounted signs. (Example: http://goo.gl/maps/muFG8 )

Nevada does this very frequently as well.

But in Nevada the signs are mounted on round signpost. They seem to have an aversion to the usual I-beam signpost for interstate signage.

[thenetwork]

Which version did Arizona use in its Button-copy days??

[kphoger]

I stand corrected. Only in Georgia, Ohio, and Virginia**

It seems like there's a state that's notorious for unreasonable ticketing in every region of the country, actually. I've heard rumors of $2,000+ out-of-stater "superspeeder" tickets issued in Virginia, and you all are now claiming Ohio is the same.

Georgia is a very well-placed speed trap, as lots of traffic is heading through it to Florida, and apparently lots of us are going fast. You can't drive I-75 for ten miles without seeing either a cop waiting or somebody being pulled over. GA also uses cruel techniques such as one cop on the top of an overpass and another at the end of the onramp, as well as extensive 55mph construction zones that have NO work going on for weeks.

Isn't it unconstitutional to charge out-of-state drivers a higher fine than in-state drivers? "Equal justice under the law" and all that?

I do remember an awful lot of speeding people in Georgia.

I'm sure the fine would be the same for an in-state driver.  I assume it's just mainly out-of-staters who are pulled over–or at least it's mainly out-of-staters who actually end up with tickets.

[1995hoo]

I stand corrected. Only in Georgia, Ohio, and Virginia**

It seems like there's a state that's notorious for unreasonable ticketing in every region of the country, actually. I've heard rumors of $2,000+ out-of-stater "superspeeder" tickets issued in Virginia, and you all are now claiming Ohio is the same.

Georgia is a very well-placed speed trap, as lots of traffic is heading through it to Florida, and apparently lots of us are going fast. You can't drive I-75 for ten miles without seeing either a cop waiting or somebody being pulled over. GA also uses cruel techniques such as one cop on the top of an overpass and another at the end of the onramp, as well as extensive 55mph construction zones that have NO work going on for weeks.

Isn't it unconstitutional to charge out-of-state drivers a higher fine than in-state drivers? "Equal justice under the law" and all that?

I do remember an awful lot of speeding people in Georgia.

I'm sure the fine would be the same for an in-state driver.  I assume it's just mainly out-of-staters who are pulled over–or at least it's mainly out-of-staters who actually end up with tickets.

A few years ago Virginia had something called "abusive driver fees" that applied only to IN-state drivers. State law treated them as "civil remedial fees" to try to get around the constitutional issues that would have arisen otherwise (had they been criminal penalties, there would have been the issue of them being out of proportion to the offense committed, among other issues). They only applied to traffic offenses that are treated as crimes, such as reckless driving or DUI; they didn't apply to things like running a stop sign or simple speeding (less than 20 mph over the posted speed limit or under 80 mph in a 65- or 70-mph zone). People raised hell about them for a ton of reasons, including the issue of subjecting in-state drivers to them while not imposing them on out-of-staters, and the circuit courts split on whether they were or were not constitutional.

The other thing that infuriated people is that the House of Delegates member who was a chief sponsor of the bill enacting the fees, David Albo, is an attorney who specializes in traffic ticket defense work (our General Assembly is a part-time legislature). People quite rightly viewed it as a massive conflict of interest for him to sponsor a bill that would cause more people to need to hire traffic attorneys. (Unfortunately, his district keeps re-electing the guy.)

The uproar was vitriolic enough that the General Assembly rather quickly passed a bill repealing them and the Commonwealth refunded all the fees people paid. I believe our Supreme Court never addressed the issue of their constitutionality prior to the repeal, though I could be wrong.

[wxfree]

According to Urban Dictionary, the large ceramic buttons used to form semi-hard barriers, like marking the edge of curved pavement at an intersection, are, somewhat crudely, called Texas titties.  I've seen them, but they're not common.  I never thought about whether they're used in other states.

These are definitely not the ones used to mark lanes.  They're roughly hemispherical and several inches tall.  You don't want to go over them at any significant speed.  Are these used in others states?

[Scott5114]

I know what you're talking about. They're rare in Oklahoma, but do exist occasionally. Are they the same as Mexican topes?

[wxfree]

I know what you're talking about. They're rare in Oklahoma, but do exist occasionally. Are they the same as Mexican topes?

I have no idea what those are.  According to a search, they're very large speed bumps used in Mexico.  They're meant to be driven over, so they're different.

I found an example of the buttons.  It isn't the best image quality, but they're shown on Google Street View forming an island around a stop sign at FM 1776 and US 285.  http://goo.gl/maps/vL7fk  The name on Urban Dictionary was probably made by someone who's never seen them outside of Texas.  I suspect they're uncommon and thereby easy to miss.

[Big John]

Those are used in Georgia in spots in lieu of a raised island

[kphoger]

Topes just means speed bumps, and they range from poured concrete humps to teeny little Botts-type dots.  The metal hemispheres ones you refer to are commonly used for speed bumps, especially on local streets, and are often commonly used as mentioned, to separate lanes of traffic–both at intersections to reinforce the solid-line markings, and occasionally between mainline and frontage road lanes.

It's not hard for me to find examples on GMSV, since they're so common.  Here are some:
http://goo.gl/maps/HnJ3h
http://goo.gl/maps/KukLd
http://goo.gl/maps/Nh2Nf
http://goo.gl/maps/1yQjo

When they're used as speed bumps, it's pretty common for the metal hemisphere to get knocked off after a while, which sometimes leaves some tire-unfriendly nastiness exposed, but which usually just gives you a bumpless place for half your tires to cross.

[wxfree]

Thanks, that's interesting.

The ones I've seen aren't painted metal, they're glassy and shiny, but those are basically the same thing.  They seem to be more common in Mexico.  I see them only occasionally, and most in rural areas.  Thinking back, I seem to remember seeing them years ago between a main lane and a deceleration or acceleration lane in urban areas, next to the wide white stripe.  All I've seen them used for recently is marking pavement edges and islands.

But that answers my question about them being used other places.  I guess it shows that the information on Urban Dictionary isn't as reliable as everyone always says   

[agentsteel53]

they might exist in California.  they are used to demarcate the international boundary.  I am not sure which side of the boundary they are on - there's usually 3 or 4 parallel sets across the road.

[roadfro]

^ Yeah, I think I've seen those in very limited uses in southern Nevada. Similar applications to the GoogleMap links, where they are a reinforcement that you're not supposed to cross a line or replacing a concrete island. But they're not that common.

I just assumed the OP was referring to typical Botts Dotts, which are all over the place in Las Vegas.

[roadfro]

A few for Minnesota that I don't think have been mentioned...

- Extensive use of "kicker posts" behind their u-channel-mounted signs. (Example: http://goo.gl/maps/muFG8 )

Nevada does this very frequently as well.

But in Nevada the signs are mounted on round signpost. They seem to have an aversion to the usual I-beam signpost for interstate signage.

Nevada does use the "kicker posts" on nearly all post-mounted large signs, the most prominent example being BGSs along freeways. The two kicker posts are always angled inward so the kicker posts are anchored to the ground at a center point

NDOT has started to use I-beam posts for these signs though. I think they are more common when the ground is extremely unlevel at the place of posting.

[amroad17]

It seems that a few Midwestern States refer to their state highways as "Trunk Highways."  I believe that only New York State refers to their I-hwys, US hwys, and state hwys as "Touring Routes."

[NE2]

I believe that only New York State refers to their I-hwys, US hwys, and state hwys as "Touring Routes."

AKA "Traffic Routes" in Pennsylvania, "Sign Routes" in California, and simply "Routes" in Oregon.

[kkt]

I believe that only New York State refers to their I-hwys, US hwys, and state hwys as "Touring Routes."

AKA "Traffic Routes" in Pennsylvania, "Sign Routes" in California, and simply "Routes" in Oregon.

Hm.  I was born and raised in California and I never heard the term "sign routes".  Maybe it's a Socal thing.  Or maybe it dates from when California had legislative route numbers that were almost completely unlike the posted route numbers.