Signs

I don’t know who to blame. It might be that our education system is failing to educate, it might be that our police are failing to police, or it just might be that ignorance is the new, happening thing. It’s smart to be dumb.

What I am talking about is signs. Not the ones that alien spaceships leave in fields of wheat and corn, but the ones that we humans like to put up everywhere. Maybe that’s the problem, too damned many signs. I spent a lot of time on the road this weekend and I saw more signs than I care to think about. I also saw more people ignoring signs. Some signs deserve to be ignored, like “THE END IS NEAR” "SHOES BOGO" or “VOTE FOR HARPER”, but there are many signs that should most definitely not be ignored.

STOP signs are pretty important and it seems that more and more people are taking the big red octagon as a suggestion. It doesn't seem to mean much any more. I am surprised when someone actually comes to a full stop rather than a rolling yield or a quick glance to see if a cop is around. There is never a cop around any more; they are too busy with the war on drugs to be concerned with traffic violations. They would have a lot more success with traffic violators than they are having with the drug lords.

I don’t know what happens to them, but every time Louise and I are looking for a street sign, that particular sign is missing. I can’t figure out if the city is trying to save money or people think they look cool on the wall of the rec room. I mentioned that the Garmin was being a bitch on last night’s blog, so we were actually relying on the street signs. We did manage to get around and to tell the truth, I don’t remember if the street signs have always been so hit or miss, or if it’s something new.

What gets me are the people who see the signs and just ignore them. There was a guy standing with his bulldog right beside a NO DOGS ON BEACH sign. I can just imagine him saying to his wife and kids, “I’m going for a walk, but I’ll meet you by the NO DOGS ON BEACH sign in an hour. If you can’t find me, just go to the car, it is in front of the NO PARKING/STOPPING sign.”

I will defy signs every now and then myself; I’ve been known to take those tags off of pillows and mattresses. I cross at lights doing a slow trot instead of the WALK that’s suggested. I value my life too much to just walk. I generally return library books well before the three weeks that are suggested and I flaunt the VOID IF OPENED sign on the back of unresponsive electronics.

I don’t even know why they bother with speed signs on the highway. The speed was posted at 90KPH, I was driving 115KPH and everyone was blowing by me like I was the retarded cousin on a tricycle. Signs that said slow down to 50KPH in a construction zone or the speed fines would be doubled must actually mean “If you take your foot off the gas pedal, the guy behind you in the camper is going to pass.”

I do like the speed signs in BC though. When they have a sign that reads 30KPH, they don’t mean you can really take the corner at 70KPH. They mean that if you aren’t doing 30KPH, some hiker will find your car and skeleton in a few years at the bottom of this cliff.

We need more cops to enforce the signs that we have. Not around me you understand, but for everyone else it would be a good thing.