Do You take Road Signs & Markings Seriously?

[yuccales]

Originally Posted by crazy longhorn

The cop told me that 95, was the route .....not the speed limit sign longhorn

Hey, I've been on that road!

[Peanutbutter]

I do take signs very serious when its a Welcome to our state, and I've gone to the work of talking the wife into standing underneath it so I can take her picture.

[crazy longhorn]

My youngest son ,put the needle , right smack bottom on the P in mph.....that was in 5th gear @ 6000 rpms. I told him, kid you are running 125....easy, or pull 6th, & drop the hammer! I drove on the way back, drop the hammer, & pulled OD gear 140+ in that old truck. When his mom got wind of the ride....let us just say, that she wads not happylonghorn

[davischevy]

I have seen several scenarios here that I could address, but I will stay with the signs.

The other day I made a heavy haul down in Boogs part of the country. The railroad track is on a raised bed in that part of the country and makes it difficult to cross with a lowboy trailer. A lowboy got hung up on the track a few years ago and the train broadsided it.

There is only one crossing in this particular town that I could cross. I crossed and went to the jobsite, loaded an excavator, and came back out. I passed a guy mowing his yard, yelling and shouting at me, and waving his fist. I had no idea what his problem was.

I stopped a block up the street to put my oversize load gear on and here he came on his lawnmower. He said "didn't you see that sign down there?'. I said "What sign". Him "there's a sign down there that says no trucks". I looked at him for second, and decided the best thing was for me to leave. Without answering, I turned and walked to the door of my truck and here he comes on his lawnmower.

"Why did you come down this street." I said, "to get to the treatment plant" and got in my truck.

I had no reason to go down his street again, but I checked out the sign the next trip. That sign could be addressing one of five streets at that intersection and was definitely not oriented toward any direction I approached the intersection.

[In The Ten Ring]

I have found that the speed I instinctively choose to drive at tends to be what is posted when I come across a speed limit sign.

I am always training myself, as it is a constant struggle, to see potential threats first...be those predators or accidents. Once I was driving through a parking lot and saw a group of adults talking and NOT paying attention to their little boy and his ball. I slowed from 5 mph to about 1 mph and sure enough, the ball went in front of my car with the boy right after it!

The parents belatedly reacted but I was ready for just that. They breathed a sigh of relief and we all had a pleasant exchange. Now, had that been the "usual" driver the kid would be mush and everyone would be regretting that day till they died of old age or hanged themselves from regret.

More and more I see people looking down whenever they come to a stop.....and you can guess what they are looking at!

[Boog]

Originally Posted by davischevy

I have seen several scenarios here that I could address, but I will stay with the signs.

The other day I made a heavy haul down in Boogs part of the country. The railroad track is on a raised bed in that part of the country and makes it difficult to cross with a lowboy trailer. A lowboy got hung up on the track a few years ago and the train broadsided it.

There is only one crossing in this particular town that I could cross. I crossed and went to the jobsite, loaded an excavator, and came back out. I passed a guy mowing his yard, yelling and shouting at me, and waving his fist. I had no idea what his problem was.

I stopped a block up the street to put my oversize load gear on and here he came on his lawnmower. He said "didn't you see that sign down there?'. I said "What sign". Him "there's a sign down there that says no trucks". I looked at him for second, and decided the best thing was for me to leave. Without answering, I turned and walked to the door of my truck and here he comes on his lawnmower.

"Why did you come down this street." I said, "to get to the treatment plant" and got in my truck.

I had no reason to go down his street again, but I checked out the sign the next trip. That sign could be addressing one of five streets at that intersection and was definitely not oriented toward any direction I approached the intersection.

The fools will put up a "no trucks allowed" sign then later want some construction work done knowing full well it will require some big equipment. What are we supposed to do, drive dozers and track hoes down the streets to get to the job sites?
That's about like them pouring curbs and sidewalks before all the big truck delivery work is done. Poor planning.

[In The Ten Ring]

The image of a guy on a lawn mower angrily chasing anything is pretty funny.

There is a "no trucks" sign on my parents' street but for very good reason. There is a lake and the road around it is so curvy a tractor trailer pulling a trailer would be S C R E W E D. I think that happened and so DOT put up the sign.

My street needs such a sign.....back when I built those crates to ship Hot Rod Todd's NOS door skins to the fellow in Canada, the shipper called me-------thank God he called!---to ask if he could pick it up that day. And hank God again I thought to ask him what he was driving! He was driving a tractor trailer.....had he got on my road it would have taken a police escort blocking traffic so he could back out....going forward would have gotten him stuck so badly...he'd have needed a heavy lift helicopter or a blowtorch to get him out.

[special-K]

We have a sign on MD77 going over the mountain saying "No Trucks Over 40 Feet" with a curvy snake symbol. Makes it real clear what & why. I think most of our signs in residential areas say "No Trucks Over 3 Ton" or whatever weight they chose. Generally that one means they don't want commercial vehicles running through. That one I ignore because it's ridiculously low considering a fullsize SUV rates heavier then that. The reasonable weight limit is 5T since that means over 10,000# which means dual rear wheel, which generally means commercial. Trucks over 5T are required to pass through weigh stations, so... But all those signs also say at the bottom "Except Deliveries". Yeah right...duh? How is the Mad Mower Man going to get his new refrigerator delivered without that clause? Going to pick up a piece of machinery with a lowboy is considered a delivery (pick up is the counter to delivery..also required). It means you weren't using the road as a through route. UPS drives trucks in the neighborhood and I bet he doesn't chase them off when they bring his next Amazon purchase.

[davischevy]

A few years ago I was delivering heavy equipment to a rural jobsite. The bridge said 15 ton limit and I was some where in the 40 ton plus range. I stopped, unloaded the excavator and ran it down the ditch, over the bank, across the stream, up the other side, pulled the truck across and loaded back up.

The old farmer that lived by the bridge waited till I had completed my task and came down to where I was at and asked "What did yo do all that for?".

I said the bridge limit was 15 and I was 40.

He said "Aw hell, them log trucks cross here all the time overloaded and runnin' about 50 miles an hour.".

[special-K]

Well ya never know and safer than sorry is good practice with bridges. It's Russian Roulette anyway. 153 log loads might not have broken it but it could give out on #154

This was an over height situation on a historic covered bridge not far from here. Just a week or so earlier, a driver from the same business hit the bridge and damaged it. But he turned around and went another route, unlike this guy who rammed his way through!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zf9Pqpnl19s

[special-K]

I drive down into the suburban areas and I see an instant change in general driving. We are getting more of it here as well. You know who moved here from down there by their driving. Of all places, down there the geniuses come up with these signs that defeat their own purpose, that leave it all up to the drivers. So why the sign? It's the sign for when the second lane is ending and merging. Traditionally, we got what looked kinda like a small "h", frontwards or backwards, telling you which lane has to merge. This sign looks like an upside down "Y" and says "Form Single Lane"... Duh?The old sign didn't require literacy and everyone knew what was what. Now it's kinda sorta mostly whatever like "ooze together however you chose". If there was room it would also say "A-holes go ahead and butt forward. Wimps just sit there and let everyone in". I've seen "Alternate Lanes" other places and I think that is an improvement over all. It gives specific and fair instruction that is best for flow of traffic.

[Grumpy old man]

I HATE TAILGATERS SO ...


I've learned the best way to deal with tailgaters that works every time ...I pull over and let them pass and then quickly drop a gear and get up next to them and frantically point to the back of their car ...Works every time they quickly pull over and get out to look for whatever it was that I was pointing to while I continue to drive down the road on my happy way !

[davischevy]

I hate people that drive beside a vehicle, blocking the traffic behind them. if a vehicle catches up with me, I always get in the slow lane as soon as reasonable.

I guess its my years of heavy haul habit, but if a line of traffic builds up behind me because there is no place to pass, I pull over and let them around when I can.

[Steeveedee]

Originally Posted by davischevy

I hate people that drive beside a vehicle, blocking the traffic behind them. if a vehicle catches up with me, I always get in the slow lane as soon as reasonable.

I guess its my years of heavy haul habit, but if a line of traffic builds up behind me because there is no place to pass, I pull over and let them around when I can.

I call that "side gating", and I don't like it, either. Some people just act like cattle and want to herd, I guess. It gets all the jack rabbits behind us all agitated. If someone does it to me for more than a minute, I either speed up or slow down to give gaps around us.

[special-K]

Left Lane Lovers is what I call them. I always feel I have to leave available lanes for passing open. That's why they spent that extra couple few billion for the other lanes, so people can travel at varying speeds!!

I hate the ones you are going a notch faster than. You might come up on them gradually and decide to go ahead and back off a notch to their speed and kick back. But if I find myself creeping up/backing off (I always try to stay back) and get around them, they seem to speed up as soon as you are at their side periphery. Once ahead a bit, they let off to the speed they were comfortable with...till you get back up there! It happens time and again. It's a subconscious mental thing they don't realize they are doing. Finally I end up hitting it to get around, then backing down to that speed I wanted.

It gets worse with some. I've had some want to speed up to get around me once I'm up ahead at a proper distance. Maintaining the speed I know was faster than theirs (the reason I passed) I will notice them gradually catch up to me and start to pass. Ok, I don't have to be in front. Go for it. But they get around you and slow back down to that speed they really want to drive and that's fine with me but just keep it steady buddy because you keep stepping on my friggin toes!!!

[richard2717]

This street is real close to me & I use it often going to the post office. Local cop stopped me in my 26k single axle bucket truck and said he was going to ticket me for being on that road and that is was clearly marked no trucks. I told him I would not sign the ticket and before he wrote it out we should head back to the end of the street so he could see why he was wrong. He actually agreed and away we went. We both parked and walked out to where you could see the signs and I told him it was as clear as mud how he thought I was wrong. He pointed to the left hand sign and said see "no trucks". I pointed to the sign on the right and said see "no trucks over 2 axles" and I will keep it in mind about the left hand sign if I ever decide to use the wrong side of the road. As long as I use the legal side of the road I am good to go. Took 30 minutes of my day but was better than hours in court to fight it. Funny thing is that was a couple years ago and both signs are still there. After the mood lightened a little I joked with him and told him I was in a bucket truck and not a box truck anyway so regardless neither sign applied. I still don't think he got it though lol

.

[special-K]

I wouldn't want to drive around there. It's not fare to only let cars drive on the left side of the road.

One time I was clocked in the local city, Frederick, doing 40 in a 25. This was years ago one weekend night. It was the first truck I ever lifted and put big tires on (37" tall) and this was the same day I got it back together. I told the cops I'm not someone who speeds through town, I picked up speed down the hill, and explained about the new tires and not having a chance to figure how much the speedo was off yet. They suggested going to this road with plenty of room and no traffic where they would sit and clock me driving by at 25 and they'd read what was actual. So I drove by doing 35