Question: What does this speed limit sign tell us about the people who erected it?
Answer: They are reckless. They are negligent. They are lazy. They are careless. They are dim-witted. They are irresponsible. They are incompetent.
As drivers in Oakland County’s White Lake District (outside Detroit) complain that it is literally impossible to figure out what the speed limit is while driving past the sign above, various school officials and others are giving reasons for why the sign is so complicated. There are many schools in the area. An electronic sign is expensive. The devil made them do it.
No.
There is only one reason: they are utter incompetents. If a road sign can’t be read by drivers, than it takes the IQ of a slug to conclude that there is no point in erecting it, and in fact, it is dangerous to put it up. A sign that can’t convey information isn’t a sign, it’s a menace. Or pop art. Or a monument to stupidity, but it isn’t a road sign. That White Lake installed an unreadable road sign that was supposed to protect school children just puts the unethical frosting on the irresponsible cake.
Unbelievable.
Ethics Alarms 
Personally, I like that all the times are half an hour, except for the first one which is only 26 minutes.
If 26 minutes is the total time there’s a danger in kids going to one school, then why is it 30 minutes for kids in other schools? If the kids at that school are different, why is their end time danger the same as it is at the other schools?
What’s the rational basis for these times?
The times probably don’t correlate to the schools, but to the LEO’s patrolling. The times when you can go faster, the donut shop is running a special, but when they get back, they want to nail you on a school zone violation because it will generate a larger fine.
“What’s the rational basis for these times?”
If I had to bet, I’d bet it’s union rules.
Which Union?
Couldn’t begin to guess which specific one – so many, with such power to make possible what we see here – and these “time zones” aren’t nearly as odd as “spit leave:”
http://gothamist.com/2010/05/30/the_weird_world_of_union_perks.php
So, you’re just blaming a boogie man. Got it.
You’re equating my speculation with blaming a boogie man?? Unfair.
Yes, your unwarranted speculation of a not well received group is blaming a boogie man.
You know what, I’m going to blame one of them there minorities. Which one? Who knows – there are so many of them nowadays with BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA giving them all presidential power – and these “time zones” aren’t nearly as odd as the “mihrab:” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qibla
Which we have time to articulate as we drive by at 25mph and check our clock to see which time zone we fall into 🙂
Would it really have made a difference to anyone if the sign said simply 6:45-9:15 and 2:00 – 4:30?
Here’s an idea—why not just “SLOW—SCHOOL ZONE” with a 25 mph limit around the clock? Or 15, whatever? How hard is that?
The old standard still works: “When children are present”
or
some cities are attaching flashing yellow lights that only illuminate during certain times.
Right,25 mph all the time. While you’re taking the time to check the sign to see if it applies you you could accidentally run over a child.
There’s a sign for a school near my house. The buses used to go a certain way (though as I think of it, I don’t think buses come anymore), so the streets are one-way only when people pick up their kids. They have signs that say “NO TURN 7:30-8:30, 2:30-3:30 SCHOOL DAYS.”
That’s not too bad. But really, WHAT is the point of a system of time THAT complicated? Why do they specify 9:07? Do you have TWO clocks in your house that have the exact same time? This is absurd.
And once you get the times figured out, how does one identify a “school day”? This has been an issue in many areas for a long time… In my neck of the woods there are schools adjacent to real highways with 55 mph limits… that drop to 25 on “school days” and/or “when children are present”. Since passing traffic cannot see the school yard from the road from the road it gets interesting… not to mention whether they mean present at the school or present in the vicinity of the roadway. So far we do not have the fine-tuned time periods…
Remember, the school officials might run the schools but the roadways and the related signage is the realm of the street or highway department, not that they don’t have their share of lame brains.
Well, this is the perfect example of academia meets the public works department. I have been to many faculty meeting where people proposed incredibly complicated methods when a simple one would do. If you think this is bad, you really don’t want to read the assessment plan of an education or sociology department.
My guess would be that each of the three schools wanted their own time on the sign and didn’t want to combine their time with any other school’s time. Any reasonable person would have put 6:30-9:30 AM and 2:00-4:30 PM, or 6:30 AM -4:30 PM but then each principal wouldn’t get their own lines on the sign.