Odd Traffic Signs Warn Motorists (Sep, 1931)
16 mph? Were early speedometers in binary?
Odd Traffic Signs Warn Motorists
ESPECIALLY designed to command instant notice of motorists, a new type of traffic signal, recently put into use in Philadelphia, is shaped like a diamond and equipped with a blinker light to give additional warning. The signals are installed at all corners likely to prove hazardous to speeding motorists.
I was surprised when I read the article that the oddness was a blinking light. The non-round 16 MPH would have caught my attention.
Hex, Charlie, hex.
My father, who passed away last year at the age of 94, once told me he remembered when highway speed limits were 25 mph and in town, 8 mph.
I think it is used because it sticks out, in Orlando I have seen a 23mph sign. I flashing light sign is still used in school zones.
Oh and there is no “16″ in binary.
Yes, I know 16 isn’t in binary, It would have been better to say a power of two.
There are only 10 types of people in the world. Those who understand binary, and those who don’t.
I know I’m being pedantic, but it’d drive me nuts to see signs saying to slow to “16 miles” instead of “16 miles per hour”, since miles aren’t a speed.
My favorite sign is: Clearance – 14′ -16″
“The non-round 16 MPH would have caught my attention.”
But not that of anyone in Philadelphia – speed limit signs aren’t round in the United States. They’re usually rectangular.
Mike Brown: As far as I know the only standard round traffic signs in the US are for railroad crossings.
Seriously, what’s the problem with 16 MPH? OK, MPH is an odd unit as m/s or km/h would have been more usefull units.
Ohh the “Miles” is definitely wrong. On a further note, doesn’t that image look awfully doctored? I mean in real life they would have placed the sign further away from the roots of the tree.