I recently encountered this pair of signs while driving through an unfamiliar area.
Let’s count all the ways this is so wrong:
- Conflicting directions: Do I stop? Do I never stop? Is this a quantum physics problem where matter can travel multiple paths simultaneously as long as it’s not being observed (by the police)?
- Too many words: The first time I drove through the intersection I actually didn’t have time to read the small print. I was too busy looking for cross-traffic to focus on all that text. All I read was, “Stop – No stopping any time.” I had to go through the intersection a second time to read it all. (And a third time to pull over and get a picture.)
- Distracting: Intersections have more crashes than any other part of the road system. Signs should be about safety. If you’re worried about people trying to sell their cars, put that sign somewhere else.
- Confusing: Should I run the stop sign if I’m trying to sell my car? What does this sign pairing want me to do? I was driving a rental car at the time so I’m pretty sure I was supposed to just drive straight though (not really.)
It’s rare that we encounter traffic signs this absurd, which is a credit to the traffic engineers who almost always get it right. But not this time.
And I should point out that this wasn’t local (which you probably figured out from the clear blue sky and the high desert terrain.) So don’t be teasing our local traffic engineers about this.
There is an intersection near me that also has me scratching my head. Here is a link from Google Maps:
https://goo.gl/maps/TtLKEqGEqFngs8CGA
As the street view shows, the traffic light for northbound route 21 is green, but if you want to turn right, you face a stop sign. Why is a stop sign necessary at an intersection regulated by a traffic light?
I can’t believe this is even an issue. A “STOP” sign clearly means to STOP. The sign underneath was most likely put there as a joke by some jokester. Not funny. Small town, lazy getting the jokesters sign down is my guess. Let’s say perhaps it was put up by the town management. Small towns, people stop anywhere they please (disrupting what little traffic there may be) to chat with neighbors & acquaintances. So perhaps that particular corner is a problem “visiting area” for town folk. The town wants them to go elsewhere, like the side of the road or a parking lot to chat. Not living in that town, I can’t give you an answer why that sign is there. But I can bet it is one of the scenerios above.