MMeM, Vol. 5 Issue 16

Have you ever noticed how dated some of our nation’s road signs are? I suppose there are a couple of reasons for this to be the case. First, it costs money to produce road signs, and as we all know, all of our governments are broke. The other reason that road signs don’t get updated very often is probably due to the recognition factor.

Obviously, you wouldn’t want to suddenly come out with a new sign for a crosswalk and not have people recognize it. But, this very practice is going to cause more problems. Some people aren’t going to know what some of the symbols on signs even refer to anymore.

Take this example.

Now, if you were born before 1990 you know that this is a depiction of two children playing on a teeter-totter. The desired inference from this sign is to tell drivers that they are approaching a playground and should use caution. I defy you to find a playground today with a teeter-totter on it. Don’t believe me? Here is the playground for which this sign is on display.

Nope, not one teeter-totter.

See, teeter-totters have long since been banned and deemed dangerous. I mean who could forget the great teeter-totter attacks of the 80’s?

And check out the sign on the light pole just before the teeter-totter sign.

No, I’m not going to do the obligatory “SLOW” children playing joke here. That comes later…in another post. No, my question is what in the hell is this “children” wearing?

Are those “KNICKERS” I see? Have we driven into a time machine throwing us back into the great depression? Did the artist for this image use the runners from the Chariots of Fire movie as models?

While we’re at it, let’s update this construction sign too. I have never understood what this guy is holding. Is it a shovel with an invisible blade? Is that a hoe? Maybe a triangle on a stick for a spade? No, it’s a curler…from the Olympics!

Maybe it’s one of those trick drawings where I don’t yet see what everyone else sees. You know those ones where you either see two faces looking at each other or a fancy vase instead? No? Just me?