Yesterday, I happened to be in my car, travelling north on Rt. 128, otside Boston. I was in heavy traffice, and as I reached the Exit No. 26 (Route 20), I looked up at the sign-it had 8 bullet holes in it!
These signs are made of sheet steel, and are 30’ off the ground. Someone would have had to fire a rifle from fairly close range to do this-the question is-why?
I can’t be certain regarding that sign, but around here, most are aluminum.
And even if the sign was steel, why wouldn’t some 2nd Amendment citing hunter have a 75 caliber ack ack to blast squirrels that may have been perched on the sign?
Probably some irresponsible gun owner out there just itching to fire the thing and doesn’t want to go to a legal firing range. What makes a better target than a sign 30 feet off the ground?
People have been shooting at road signs for as long as there’ve been road signs.
Was it the fact that this particular sign was high in the air that surprised you? Or that it was a heavily traveled road? Neither of these factors would have stopped certain people I used to know!
That section of road is extremely heavily traveled, and would be essentially impossible to shoot at a sign in daylight without someone noticing. Whether someone who saw would call 911 I’m not sure, but there are plenty of folks in MA who would in a second.
But at 3:00 AM you could easily get away with it.
But, like, what’s the payoff?
“Whooee, I bagged another road sign, am I cool or what!”
???
I remember years ago driving on Colorado Highway 82 on the way to Aspen. Just about every sign had a bunch of bullet holes. There’s no explaining people.
Stupid Brandeis students.
The sign was probably askin’ for it.
Exactly. I never did it myself but I’ve known plenty of people who liked to drive around and shoot roadsigns. As you might expect, beer was also usually present.
Did you ever see Funny Farm? There’s a running gag throughout the movie of two teenagers going around cutting down street signs (on wooden posts, not steel, because they’re out in the country). After they cut down a “Dangerous Curve” sign, Chevy Chase goes careening off the road. One kid asks the other, “Hey, do you think we should put this one back?” and the other one says, “Nah, are you kidding? This one’s mint… not a bullethole in it!”.
It happens.