Extreme Road Signs

After spending probably more time that I should on “Major Deer Crossing”, I just couldn’t leave the subject of Road Signs alone.   I have a few more thoughts on the subject.   The first one has to do with a common sign.  No U Turn.  The reason I am bringing this one up is where they place these signs.  Frankly some of them are in good locations.  Locations that actually make sense. Typically, on city streets and intersections where it would be prohibitive to allow drivers to make a U Turn.  My frame of reference is the placement of “No U Turn” signs where any one with a brain would never consider a U Turn a viable option if they want to continue to be alive.  I am going to reference the same road that Kathy and I took from Turlock to Black Oak Casino.  There are a couple of stretches of road that are narrow and steep with some fast traffic even some places where you can’t see the on coming traffic because of turns or hills.  Having said this there are a number of “No U Turn” signs in places that one would never consider making such a move unless they were running from the police, or avoiding an armed gunman or in any other way in fear for their life.  Frankly, the first time I saw these signs I laughed because making a U Turn in any of those spots would have been insane.  Actually, planting the seed is problematic because someone might consider making that move.  Now when I see a No U Turn sign, I look at the place where the sign is located and assess the placement and either support the decision or chuckle to myself about the thought process that led to putting the sign there.

I started thinking about what I will refer to as, “extreme road signs”, why would I even imagine signs like this?  To me, if they can put a “Major Deer Crossing” sign in place then why not other “Extreme Signs”?  Like instead of “Falling Rocks”, maybe “Potential Landslide Ahead”, …or instead of “Pass with Care”, how about “Pass With Extra Care”?  Instead of “Stop” maybe “Really Stop… We Mean It”.  “Slow Down” becomes “Really Slow Down”, I mean I think Major Deer Crossing opened the door.  Or maybe I am over thinking the whole thing?  If we were to relax some of the rules regarding road signs it would make driving more interesting and enjoyable.  Adding some extra emphasis to boring signs could be fun.

I promise to leave road signs soon but there are two more things that I want to address.  The first one is a sign that most of us have seen on occasion throughout the United States.  The sign says “Vista Point”.  We all know that this is a place where you pull off the road into a parking lot and get out and enjoy the view at this particular “Vista Point”.  My daughter, Nanci, went on a trip with one of her friend’s families and we ask her about the trip when she returned.  We ask her about places that she had visited and so on.  She tells us that one of the places she visited was, “Vista Point”.   Kathy and I wanted to deal with this in the most diplomatic way.  When we gently said that Vista Point wasn’t really a place or a town or even on a map, but rather an area to stop and check out the view we all had a great laugh about it. To this day we all give Nanci a hard time over her visit to “Vista Point”.

Finally, when considering road signs and particularly road hazard signs regarding animal crossings does anyone ever really take into account the animals?  The signs are there for the safety of the humans.  Why don’t we erect signs for the safety of the deer, or the cattle, or the moose?  Since they can’t read… (Frankly Gahan Wilson probably wouldn’t agree) then maybe the signs for them would show a picture of a car or a semi and it would refer to a Car Crossing or a Semi Crossing or a Prime Semi Truck Crossing.  Maybe even a “Major Car Crossing”, although cars typically don’t go by in herds or large groups.  Never mind this is getting ridiculous – like what happens in Monty Python skits when they stop the skit and start another skit that isn’t so silly.  Enough on Road Signs.