Monday, August 25, 2014

15 feet high parking signs halved in size to prevent confusion

For a brief time on Thursday and Friday the parking regulation signs outside Linwood E. Howe Elementary School in Culver City, California, topped 15 feet. The signs were meant to clarify a new drop-off and pick-up procedure for when classes resume at the school.



But people found them confusing. Mayor Meghan Sahli-Wells said the plan was for the signs to only be displayed temporarily. “They just didn’t look temporary,” she said. “So they were going to be taken down. And it looked like … whoa. It was pretty impressive.” By late on Friday, half of the signs were gone, although that still left more than a few regulations for spaces near the school.



Culver City resident John Ikuma said parking near the school is at a premium. “There’s nowhere for the teachers to park,” said Ikuma. “And then we also have restaurants down the street. We had permits put in about three years ago, four years ago, and that’s helped. But this is a whole new level.”


YouTube link.

Parent Donna Thorn said parking tickets in the area can cost as much as $73. “As it is it’s already hard to get your child to school on time, now we have to stop, look, read the sign,” Thorn said. “And then I like to help out in the morning, so I really have to read these signs so I don’t get a ticket. Because it’s common over here.”

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Honestly, I find this style of traffic signage totally retarded. Who can read that without actually stopping (and potentially violating the regulation)?

In Europe you will have a "No Stopping/Parking" sign with a small plate saying something like "Except permit holders". And then the city/school distributes the permits (usually a paper card) to their staff who are allowed to park there.

If it is in front of a school or some other place where one needs to drop passengers off (airports, stations, etc.), you will have e.g. a 3-5 minutes exception for that where short parking is permitted.

Easy, simple and unambiguous. The stack above serves only to hand out more traffic tickets, nothing more.

Unknown said...

Needs an electronic sign stating the current and near-term rules.

Anonymous said...

Please someone make a star wars intro like film with this sign!

Anonymous said...

Because private industry never makes things confusing...(phone contract koff koff)

Anonymous said...

They need to look at this design challenge for parking signs:
http://www.gizmag.com/better-parking-signs-nikki-sylianteng/32970/

Anonymous said...

So in Europe there are 3 signs. Same here in America. 3 Signs for school weekdays, 3 signs for non-school weekdays, 3 signs for weekends, and 1 sign for street cleaning days. 10 signs at about 1.5 feet per sign makes 15 feet. They really just need 3 different poles that they change out depending on what day it is.