Street Signs No Longer Use ' or " ?

ARFlyer

ARFlyer

En-Route
Joined
Dec 31, 2011
Messages
3,189
Location
Central AR
Display Name
ARFlyer
When did highway signs stop using ' and " to indicate distance?

Over the past few months I've start to notice construction signs using F instead of '. Also underpass height signs now all read 5 F 10 IN instead of 5 ' 10".

I know in Europe signs use the letter M for distance. However, that is the correct usage to indicate meters. Unless I was taught wrong in school and by my family, using F is not the correct method of showing distance.
 
Maybe some of the younger people do not know what ' and " mean, but they know how to abbreviate from all the texting nowadays. Who knows.
 
Corpsmaide said:
Maybe some of the younger people do not know what ' and " mean, but they know how to abbreviate from all the texting nowadays. Who knows.
Click to expand...

When I first saw a road work sign saying 500 F it actually took me a second to know what it meant. :idea:
 
Don't know if they fixed it but a few years ago the VT state drivers license guide described a yield sign as an upside down triangle. *sigh* I haven't noticed any new sign nomenclature round here. Although in NY they are now calling the rest areas without facilities 'text break areas.' We are doomed, doomed I tell ya.
 
SCCutler said:
Maybe, like, we could just go ahead with the whole metric thing, like we were promised would be all done by 1970 when I was in grade school?
Click to expand...
HA! Like you actually remember metric convertion from 34 years ago. GFL dude. I don't remember this mornings breakfast.
 
I'm still trying to find a metric watch so I don't have to keep converting to milliminutes in my head.
 
SCCutler said:
Maybe, like, we could just go ahead with the whole metric thing, like we were promised would be all done by 1970 when I was in grade school?
Click to expand...

No way, the metric system is for people who are bad at math and can only divide by 10. We need more math in the US not less. :D
 
SCCutler said:
Maybe, like, we could just go ahead with the whole metric thing, like we were promised would be all done by 1970 when I was in grade school?
Click to expand...

It's been going on longer than that. The Kasson Act of 1866 made the metric system a legally recognized structure for weights and balances in the US.

The Act also made the refusal to trade or deal in metric quantities illegal.

I am able to make most metric conversions in my head on the fly, it's sorta like speaking another language. Not that anyone asks... :D

http://lamar.colostate.edu/~hillger/laws/metric-act.html
 
ARFlyer said:
When I first saw a road work sign saying 500 F it actually took me a second to know what it meant. :idea:
Click to expand...
It should have been obvious that they are putting hot tar down and the burner temperature is 500 degrees F.
 
Texas has tall guys. I saw a sign that said some fellow named Clearance was 10' 4" (10 F 4 in) tall. And they are always looking for the Indian maiden named Falling Rock. (Watch for Falling Rock.)
 
tinerj said:
Texas has tall guys. I saw a sign that said some fellow named Clearance was 10' 4" (10 F 4 in) tall. And they are always looking for the Indian maiden named Falling Rock. (Watch for Falling Rock.)
Click to expand...

Heh. Beat you guys to it. Now she's Fallen Rock.
 
tinerj said:
Texas has tall guys. I saw a sign that said some fellow named Clearance was 10' 4" (10 F 4 in) tall. And they are always looking for the Indian maiden named Falling Rock. (Watch for Falling Rock.)
Click to expand...

The "Watch for Falling Rock" signs always make me chuckle. I imagine someone driving up the winding canyon road staring up through their sunroof at the canyon walls looking for rocks falling, and then miss a turn and drive into the river below.
 
ColoPilot said:
The "Watch for Falling Rock" signs always make me chuckle. I imagine someone driving up the winding canyon road staring up through their sunroof at the canyon walls looking for rocks falling, and then miss a turn and drive into the river below.
Click to expand...

Kind of a more serious version of the "Not responsible for broken windshields" signs you see on the back of some gravel trucks.
 
ColoPilot said:
The "Watch for Falling Rock" signs always make me chuckle. I imagine someone driving up the winding canyon road staring up through their sunroof at the canyon walls looking for rocks falling, and then miss a turn and drive into the river below.
Click to expand...

I've heard that the road that goes by the South Korean paratrooper training base says, "Beware of falling ROKs"....

Ron Wanttaja
 
There is a sign with flashing yellow lights that reads " Urban Area Stay Alert" in Easton Maryland. Pretty sure Easton.
 
One sign I never understood, maybe I'm completely not getting it.

"End 35 MPH zone"

This sign is telling us that the 35 MPH speed limit is no longer in effect right?

Couldn't they just post the new limit and figure that we'd all know that it would supersede the previous limit?
 
In California, that means 55 MPH on a highway or in rural areas, 25 MPH in residential areas or next to schools (including rural schools!), 35 MPH in business areas. The problem is that those area types can change very quickly.

More than likely, that's the end of a jurisdiction (like a city limit), and the people who imposed that 35 MPH limit don't control the speed limit on the other side.
 
Whenever I see the sign: "Motorcycles use Extreme Caution"

I want to put up a sign a few feet later: "All Others Carry on with Reckless Abandon!"
 
How about at the airport,the sign arrivals,departure,have been changed to arriving flights,departing flights.
 
MAKG1 said:
In California, that means 55 MPH on a highway or in rural areas, 25 MPH in residential areas or next to schools (including rural schools!), 35 MPH in business areas. The problem is that those area types can change very quickly.

More than likely, that's the end of a jurisdiction (like a city limit), and the people who imposed that 35 MPH limit don't control the speed limit on the other side.
Click to expand...

The end of a jurisdiction thing makes sense, but I see it all the time in seemingly random places :dunno:. Plus there are plenty of zones that are 30, 35, 40, 45, plus a lot of highway that is 65 mph etc. so it's not like there is a default speed that is knowable once you pass one of those signs. Still seems weird to me.

If you leave one town with a 35 limit and enter one with a 45, doesn't it make sense to just put the new limit right on the side of the changing town? ie. one sign for exiting traffic and one for entering traffic facing the other way and on the other side of the border?
 
Non Compos Mentis said:
Whenever I see the sign: "Motorcycles use Extreme Caution"

I want to put up a sign a few feet later: "All Others Carry on with Reckless Abandon!"
Click to expand...


I always joke that the protestors are getting pretty bold to put up those "End School Zone" signs. They're getting pretty organized too, signs everywhere!
 
Skyscraper said:
The end of a jurisdiction thing makes sense, but I see it all the time in seemingly random places :dunno:. Plus there are plenty of zones that are 30, 35, 40, 45, plus a lot of highway that is 65 mph etc. so it's not like there is a default speed that is knowable once you pass one of those signs. Still seems weird to me.

If you leave one town with a 35 limit and enter one with a 45, doesn't it make sense to just put the new limit right on the side of the changing town? ie. one sign for exiting traffic and one for entering traffic facing the other way and on the other side of the border?
Click to expand...

In most states there is a default urban speed limit unless otherwise posted.
 
Graueradler said:
In most states there is a default urban speed limit unless otherwise posted.
Click to expand...

In Springfield, Mo, the sign at the city limits reads (at least it used to).

"Speed limit 30 mph except where posted" then it references the ordinance. I looked up the ordinance back in the 90's and the verbiage was the same.

I always wanted to get a ticket in a posted 30 mph zone and fight it...just for grins. Never happened.

"Otherwise" is an important word in that phrase.
 
Last edited:
South of Orlando, street signs give distances in miles with the kilometers in parentheses. Probably to keep the canadians from getting lost.
 
weilke said:
South of Orlando, street signs give distances in miles with the kilometers in parentheses. Probably to keep the canadians from getting lost.
Click to expand...

If God had wanted us to use the metric system, he would have given us ten fingers.
 
Corpsmaide said:
Easton Maryland. Didn't find any pics yet. I am hoping Ron can corroborate. Rt50 westbound about a mile west of the Easton barrack (MSP).
Click to expand...

Ill snap a picture next week if nobody does before then.
 
Last edited:
300_2166983.jpg


CAUTION!

SNAKES ARE FOLLOWING YOUR CAR!!!
 
ColoPilot said:
The "Watch for Falling Rock" signs always make me chuckle. I imagine someone driving up the winding canyon road staring up through their sunroof at the canyon walls looking for rocks falling, and then miss a turn and drive into the river below.
Click to expand...



Sometimes those signs are serious..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL9ojV0zCs4


If you haven't seen it before, it gets interesting a little past the mcdonalds.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top