Road sign, new color

Factual Questions
1

I’ve seen a couple new road signs go up locally that are neon green background instead of the standard yellow. Both of these signs were school related, School Bus Stop and School Crossing.

What I’m wondering is if all the new caution signs going up are going to be green, or is it just for school related signs?

Is this a new federal standard or just something that is a state standard?

2

Must be a state or local thing. Here in my Illinois town, the new signs are a glow-in-the-dark (or daytime for that matter) yellow. Still a bright new neon color, but not green.

“I guess it is possible for one person to make a difference, although most of the time they probably shouldn’t.”

3

I’m in Illinois, too (near Chicago), and I have seen the green signs. also only for school related things. I don’t know if some new law has been passed. Some of the towns near mine also have fire trucks in that same really bright green. Perhaps someone did a study and found that it was more of an attention-getter than the yellow.

“I think it would be a great idea” Mohandas Ghandi’s answer when asked what he thought of Western civilization

4

Here in Georgia the new ones are a neon yellow. I do not think they are necessarily related to Schools in that I think I have seen them in non school areas.

All of the school buses used up all the regular yellow paint so they had to go with the neon yellow.

Jeffery

p.s. Though it could look sort of green, I guess.

5

The chartreuse color (brilliant yellow-green) shows up better in dim light than the yellow. We have chartreuse fire trucks out where I live for the same reason.

“Eppur, si muove!” - Galileo Galilei

6

We’ve got the green fire trucks around here as well. It must have been studied at some length, and with tax dollars, before they would institute such a wild change though.

7

Many municipalities began ordering green-yellow firetrucks over 30 years ago when it was pointed out (by the auto insurance industry) that red vehicles were involved in far more accidents at night than any other color.

I never could figure out, though, why they discounted the flashing lights all over those trucks - you’d have to be blind not to see one coming, red, green or black.

8

Ask any firefighter which color fire engine is the “right” color, and you’ll see him/her get wound up like a rubber band. Lime green or yellow (or, as some of us call it, slime green or yellow) fire engines started coming off the lines in the early 70’s, as some study somewhere said that they were the most visible color. All of these “progressive” departments then went out and either bought their new apparatus with the new lime green, or repainted their old apparatus to the new color. Lo and behold, there isn’t any noticable difference in visibility, the foolish things are covered in lights!!! Also, apparatus drivers would complain that people wouldn’t move out of the way of a slime green truck, morale (supposedly) went down when the change came, and every other complaint you could imagine was leveled against these colors. After a while, most departments went back to their pre-green colors, which is typically red, black-over-red (ie, Chicago) or white-over red. Recent studies have said that white fire engines with a red strip are the most visible, unless there is snow on the ground. Others have said red is best in daytime, but doesn’t show up well at night. The codes for fire apparatus say that there shall be a retroreflective stripe across the vehicle, which should alleviate the night visiblity problem. My theory has always been, if you can’t see the red lights or hear the siren (regardless of the color of the truck), you shouldn’t be driving anyways.

Oh, we’ve had white apparatus since 1954, and 6" red stripes on them since 1992. White’s my personal favorite, if you couldn’t guess.

Jeremy…

I can think of no more stirring symbol of man’s humanity to man than a fire engine - Kurt Vonnegut

9

I should add that the lore as to how the first yellow fire engine came about is a little interesting. A horse drawn hose cart was painted red, and the horse in the station would urinate on the cart. Where he wet the cart would turn yellow. The cart would be repainted, and it would turn yellow again. Finally, the chief just said “to hell with it, if it wants to be yellow, than we’ll leave it yellow.” I don’t know how much truth there is to that, but I like the story.

Jeremy…

I can think of no more stirring symbol of man’s humanity to man than a fire engine - Kurt Vonnegut

10

East Vassalboro, ME had a beige/cream pumper in the early 50’s.

John W. Kennedy
“Compact is becoming contract; man only earns and pays.”
– Charles Williams

11

Here in Okinawa, they just put up a new road sign indicating a sharp left turn on a traffic circle.

It is chartreuse, and quite noticable, especially as it is the first road sign I have seen here in that particular color.

12

Well it certainly seems it’s nationwide, and the new signs will probably all be this new color. The brighter the better I guess.

13

I believe that the neon-green and the neon-yellow signs people are describing are actually the same color, the difference is the people’s opinions of what color it is.

Its sort of like on traffic lights, most people call the color of the center light yellow. I, for one, say its either orange or amber. If it were yellow, you’d never be able to see it in the day-time.