AP photo, via the Village of Oak Lawn. (from Chicagoist.com)
Oak Lawn, Illinois installed funny signs beneath their existing stop signs. These signs say things like:
• right there pilgrim
• and smell the roses
‚Ä¢ or we’ll hunt you down
‚Ä¢ means that you aren’t moving
• billion dollar fine
• in the naaaame of love
There’s over a dozen variations on these 50 signs installed at trouble spots throughout Oak Lawn where vehicles tend to not stop. This was the brainchild of Oak Lawn’s mayor, Dave Heilmann to get people to pay attention to the signs.
I love the creativity behind these signs. But since they are so goofy about a law that is meant to be strict, people are going to take these stop signs even less seriously. Stopping at a stop sign is done out of respect for the law, and for the concern of the safety of others. By poking fun at the stop signs, the respect is diminished.
Certainly people will pay more attention to the sign, but will they actually stop at it now? That’s the main purpose of installing these signs.
If the purpose is to make people smile and take life less seriously, then yes, this is successful.
I tend to ignore stop signs whenever possible.. but something like this, it makes the real stop sign seem vanity-ish and less official. I might not even yield. Ok.. I would. but.. but.
Looks like Oak Lawn isn’t suffering from a lack of transportation funds.
STOP…or my mom will shoot?
It could just make you notice it long enough to make you slow down more than you usually would. Though, I wonder if it will cause more accidents because people are reading the sign rather than looking at the road. Yes, an A for more smiles.
They totally missed on the best “stop” sign: STOP… Hammer time. (lyric from MC Hammer’s popular song, “U Can’t Touch This”)
moose– hahaha!
Lighten up, people! The intent here is very clear. The mayor listened and responded to the concerns of Oak Lawn residents. People are NOT stopping completely at stop signs. And let’s face it – most, if not all of us, have rolled through a stop sign or two in our day. The idea is clever, creative and effective. No matter where I’m driving now, I think about these signs every time I come to a stop sign. And I take that extra minute to come to a complete stop. I’ll bet many others are doing exactly the same thing.
“stop sign or two A day” fixed it for you 🙂
Adam, you make a very good point. Now that I think of it, i would probably stop at these signs too. Thanks for kickin me in the pants.
Seriously? Are you people really encouraged to examine your concience and stop where you wouldn’t before,all because of some silly sayings on a serious traffic directive. Yes Stop means Stop, but shouldn’t you be doing it anyway? The signs are not only ridiculous and annoying, they are embarassing to this long time OL resident. Who’s paying for these by the way? They make me want to speed through the intersection rather than have to stop and look at them! (I won’t, I’ve always stopped even before these goofy signs.)