Blatherings From The Editor

Signs 

(June 2005) 

Have you ever noticed the huge number and variety of traffic signs that line our roads?  At times there are so many it’s hard to read them and make sense of what they’re trying to tell us.  Courtesy of our Department of Transportation, they  safely guide us to our destinations, glowing in the dark, standing out like beacons on dark, cloudy nights.  I wonder what it was like back in the old days before all these signs cropped up along the side of the road.  I’m too young to know…

     Next time you approach a posted turn, check out how many signs there are warning you or directing you to do something.  A “Turn ahead” sign with a recommended speed (determined by someone in a ‘47 pickup truck) is one of the first you’ll see.  A rule-of-thumb here in Arizona is that you can generally go in 10 to 20 mph over the recommendation.  Be aware though some states are much more realistic about the nature of the curve and 10 or 20 over could get exciting.  Ask one of our SEAT members who found out how realistic the 35 mph recommendation on a rather abrupt turn on NM 9 was.

     Mile markers along the side of the road can be handy, especially if you are concerned about the next gas station.  When you see a sign telling you how far it is to the next town, watch for the next mile marker.  Add or subtract the mileage and then by watching the mile markers go by you can estimate how far you’ll have to push your bike.  Have you noticed lately that the small numbers on the mile markers are being replaced with ones that are really big?  Is this so the old timers can see them?  Or is it so the Beemer heads can read them as they fly by?  Probably both – old Beemer heads flying by.

     There are other “signs” that you can “read” that weren’t put up by the DOT folks.  Check out the road surface leading into a turn and look for skid marks going straight through it.  Gives you a hint as to the nature of the turn as discovered by someone exceeding the 10 or 20 over rule-of-thumb.  When you see a stretch of pavement ahead blackened by a bunch of oil and auto drippings, there just might be a bump or dip.  There are few things more fun than the huge bumps that crop up just before bridges and overpasses.  You can jar a tooth loose on some of these.

     Correctly reading the road, and the road signs along it, is pretty important to a motorcyclist.  Different states have different signs that can be confusing.  The simpler the sign the easier it is to understand, given how quickly we tend to pass them by.  The circle with a slash through it and some icon depicting what is verboten can be the easiest to understand without spending a lot of your needed attention on it.  Long, wordy signs are distracting and might not be fully understood.

     Then there is the speed limit sign.  The black letters and numbers on a white background mean this is not a recommendation, it is the limit and the law, exceed it at your own risk.  To some the posted limit is no where near their limit and it is used as a guide rather than a limitation.  There are some among us who have written documentation to prove their limit was higher than the posted limit.  Deryle and Wanda, no documentation here!