Now the government has a use for all those people on the sex offender registry. :-)

Something along the lines of, “The KGB never had to look for a legal excuse to detain any citizen of the USSR. A pedestrian couldn’t cross Gorky street in any way without breaking at least 10 rules or regulations – so any time they wanted a man, the legal justification to grab him was always ready and waiting.”

That school zone sign is a perfect metaphor for a country with 50,000 laws (?)(nobody really knows the actual number) and maybe a million federal & state regulations – all enacted by the permanent bureaucracy; none ever voted on by a legislature. And then of course, there’s the tax code…

Yeah, this’ll end well.

-jcr

You are correct, I wasn’t advocating the speed limit, I was figuring out the winning strategy for dealing with that situation. In fact, it’s possible they are experimenting with different means of encouraging compliance with the 25mph limit, which I’m sure drivers blow off every minute of every day there.

Disneyland has a 14mph speed limit posted in their parking lots. Park patrons always comment on that, “14mph. Hmm. Not 15mph, not 10mph, hell not even 11 or 12 or 13mph. But 14mph. Hmmm. That’s so WEIRD!”

So, by posting a number that’s not divisible by 5, you have just started conversations among bored people on a tram who are going to drive in that lot later. It’s in their heads … 14mph … 14mph … 14mph.

Is compliance greater that way? Why else do it?

So too it might be with such a confusing sign in Detroit. What time is it? Huh? 9:42??? Can I drive faster than 25mph now? Should I risk it? Ahh, f@(& it. I’ll just drive 23mph and be done with it. Mission accomplished.

A good way to make sure someone you are meeting is on time is to tell them to be there at 8:57 instead of 9:00.

Plus, I do think it is common sense to drive slower past schools. I think it would be hard to find someone to admit in public to the contrary. Kind of goes without saying, really.

$50,000 for installing a flashing light there is entirely reasonable:

- New electric service from a nearby pole, probably at least $10,000 in a single job.
- New sign assembly including foundation because you don’t mount lights on U-Channel – $10,000
-Traffic control for construction – $5000

And the rest would be tied up in design, contracting, and overhead.

Getting the government to do things is expensive.

Hell, the signs alone probably cost over a grand per, with 4 of them on the pole. And of course, don’t forget the government worker that puts them up, and his pension for life. Yup, it’s real easy to spend other people’s money, especially when you get to curry favor while spending it!

The oddly specific sign is not particularly good, it should have morning and afternoon hours at most. But making that stretch of road 25 miles per hour all the time just helps to further erode respect for speed limits.

- New electric service from a nearby pole, probably at least $10,000 in a single job.
- New sign assembly including foundation because you don’t mount lights on U-Channel – $10,000
-Traffic control for construction – $5000

And the rest would be tied up in design, contracting, and overhead.

Getting the government to do things is expensive.

Around 5 years ago a small neighborhood park in Goleta, Calif. was renovated. Our local congressperson was there for the grand re-opening and to take credit for allocating a massive $250,000 for the new equipment and landscaping.

I wonder why the media always fails to inquire just how a flashing light could cost as much as a luxury car and how a simple park renovation could cost as much as constructing a McMansion. (Not to mention just what the federal interest is in constructing small neighborhood parks.)

If its that complicated there needs to be a blinking light and a control box. But that would require some $$$, and would make writing speeding tickets much harder.