I encountered this sign on 13th avenue in downtown Portland:
It seems to be depicting a somewhat complicated but very specific scenario. Here are some possibilities:
- Danger! Your front wheel may snap off at any moment and propel you over the handlebars!
- Warning: Your front wheel may become stuck in a groove, rotating the handlebars in one direction, and rotating you off the bike in the opposite direction.
- Caution: Riding your bike into this hole may lock the front wheel in place, while inertia brings you to your doom.
Whatever the meaning, I’m more likely to injure myself while attempting to analyze the sign than to suffer injury from the hazard the sign is designed to protect me against.
May 23rd, 2007 - 7:33 pm
Hey Marquis Eden. It’s cool to see you blogging. I hope you don’t mind that I invade your space with great soliloquy. I like all three of your possibilities on the road hazard sign. Quite a comical depiction. Normally I would think this sign is totally random, but I happen to know of someone who experienced great injury in probably exactly this fashion. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if their accident propelled the city to create this type of sign. The husband of one of my coworkers was riding his generally usual route, I believe, when he crossed an area under construction that wasn’t marked very well. He passed over some sort of ledge or ditch and ended up going head over heals. Normally this would not be a huge deal, and the person would get just bumps and bruises. However, seemingly the most unfortunate possibility occurred, and he ended up breaking his neck! Crazy. You would never expect. Anyway, because of the poorly marked construction area and the obvious hazard it created for this man, he ended up getting a sizable settlement - I’m presuming from either the construction company involved or the city or something. So for 2 reasons I can see a reason to put such a sign: safety and fear of legal action. It totally sucks that just because of this, this man is paralyzed and severely challenged likely for the rest of his life.
May 23rd, 2007 - 8:18 pm
Those are very unfortunate circumstances!! Undoubtedly the sign was constructed because the accident it depicts actually occurred, likely in the vicinity of the sign itself. To me the sign is a somewhat confusing depiction of the scenario, and possibly approaches the limits of what the “government sign stick-men” illustrations can depict. I honestly had no idea what the sign was attempting to convey until I opened it up on my computer and studied it. It certainly solves the city’s liability problem, but I can’t help but wonder if there is a clearer way to illustrate the scenario for the purpose of increasing bicyclist safety.
June 10th, 2007 - 12:53 pm
(WARNING: I failed to read the precluding commentary before spouting off here…I still stand by my statements, but they seem redundant to me now. As if the points I wished to make had been covered already. As though I restated and reinterpreted previous opinions. As though I was using the source material to provide a lenghty summary. As if I were beating a dead horse… Sorry…)
The first time I saw these “warning” signs downtown I assumed they were some form of elaborate hoax. I stopped abruptly in the middle of the sidewalk and tried to figure out how someone had acquired the materials to so accurately replicate a real street sign. I wondered at the authentic pole-attachment units that had been used. I marveled at the well though out placement of the signs. But never did I think for even a moment that they were actual city approved street signs! It just seemed unnecessary to post these “advisements”, reasons being: A) The percentage of people who will see this sign in relation to the percentage of people the sign applies to would seem to be statistically insignificant. B) The sign does not provide a warning to avoid a specific or high-risk behavior, but instead provides a warning of a specific result without regard for the behavior or action. That this sign warns of a result based on the application of a bicycle to what one assumes is a train track is apparent, but I would argue there are many ways to safely cross a train track on a bicycle. It would stand to be reasoned then that there must be an inherently wrong way to cross a trains track on a bicycle. As a warning of potential danger and personal injury the sign then fails to convey a proper course of action to prevent the posted result. And lastly C) Everyone knows bicyclists don’t pay attention to street lights and road signs. This is public record folks. Meh, I still laugh every single time I see these signs around town.
August 11th, 2007 - 9:21 pm
If you come across it again, take a sharpie and add some poisonous spikes and an alligator filled moat for the projectile bicyclist to land in, just to really drive the point home that whatever they’re trying to say about riding a bike there is a _really_ bad idea.