No I am not speaking about the old hippie song. The signs I am talking about are road signs. In Logan County we install and maintain thousands of signs and we spend thousands of dollars on signs.
A study done in Minnesota about the effectiveness of signs, I have found it to confirm a long held belief of mine. Not all signs are effective. When I first was given the opportunity to do this job, I did not have a great understanding about signs that comes with experience. A “speed limit” here, a “school bus stop” there, “children playing” where. These three signs and others warning signs, seem harmless and much needed. In this Minnesota Study http://bit.ly/1nH67ra the case is made that this type of signs doesn’t work. The findings have become Part F of Minnesota’s Best Practices for Traffic Sign Maintenance/Management Handbook.
A deeper look at speed limit signs has shown that it is not the regulation or enforcement of the law that dictates how people drive. It is driver behavior and driver perception. What the 85 percentile of drivers feel safe driving is what they do. That is not always in line with my or an Engineers opinion. Our belief that slower traffic makes safer roads in incorrect, according to the F section of this manual the number of crashes actually go up at slower speeds and down with higher speed. I AM NOT ADVOCATING SPEEDING. I am trying to inform myself and share with the public that I serve. The raising and lowering of the speed limit does not change driver behavior much, about 1-3 MPH. (F-2)
Warning signs, like Children Playing actually endanger children. A study from Wisconsin reportshttp://1.usa.gov/1mjolxy “most collisions involving children are not actually caused by driver behavior (which this sign has very little demonstrated effect on), but by unsafe, erratic actions by children… The CHILDREN AT PLAY sign may well be understood by kids and families as a suggestion that it is acceptable for children to play in the street, and thus, by producing a false sense of security, be counterproductive. Furthermore, CHILDREN AT PLAY signs tend to propagate through neighborhoods, popping up on every block that has a child living on it. Signs lose credibility with motorists when they appear too often. Instead of being extra diligent, drivers tend to ignore the signs, particularly if no children are playing near the CHILDREN AT PLAY signs. When these signs appear too often, they raise questions like: If there is no sign does that mean there are no children present and no need to watch for children?” Being of no real use other than making people feel good, warning signs are ignored.
I have pointed out to a few parents over the years that the “School Bus Stop” signs tell a child predator, where kids will be, often alone and in the dark early morning. I try to talk parent out of these signs. A simple Google search will pull up various evil happenings, a very well-known kidnapping of Jaycee Dugard. She was taken in 1991 from a school bus stop after being stun gunned and was gone for over 18 years. http://bit.ly/1kMRRsl
My role as Commissioner is to do what is in the best interest of the most people, that’s in the law. Some areas around the Nation are removing some of these types of signs. I am not advocating for that. I am just researching the topic and sharing with you. I try doing what you want, to the best of my ability under the law. If a concerned parent wants a sign I’ll see that it gets put up but the sign is often ignored by drivers and could be putting the people we care for the most in danger. And signs cost a lot of money to purchase, install, and maintain. I never take for granted that I work for you.
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