Often times the biggest problem with government bureaucracy is the inability to keep things simple. Something as simple as a street sign can be made a nightmare by some bureaucrat. Check out this school zone traffic sign as an example, which I wrote about in a previous post.
Try to make sense when the speed limit is 25 miles per hour while driving by this sign!
Officials in Arlington, Virginia have come up with a simple sign that seems to have reduced traffic accidents on a thruway exit. The sign states “DON’T HIT THE CAR IN FRONT OF YOU”.
A Governing.com article about this sign contained the following:
“The sign was first reported by the local news website ARLnow, whose commenters poked fun at it and suggested it was a waste of money to say something so obvious. Typical of the response was one commenter, who suggested Arlington County could extend the effort further with signs that say “Do Not Commit Crimes” in dangerous areas.
But Dustin Sternbeck, a public information officer for the Arlington County Police Department, says the sign may have actually helped reduce collisions substantially. In the six weeks before the sign went up, there were five accidents at the intersection. In the 10 weeks after there, there was one. Of course, correlation doesn’t mean causation. But the results may be worth paying attention to nonetheless.”
It seems that government officials get complaints no matter what they do, but I like the simple approach utilized in Virginia. What do you think about the “Do Not Hit The Car In Front Of You Sign”?
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