Yes, that’s the speed limit in my car park at work, which just edges out the speed limit in my car park at home (5 mph). Yesterday morning, I actually tried to drive at the speed limit (fortunately my car’s an automatic, so it didn’t stall), but gave up after just one floor. (I need to ascend four to get to my lowly non-reserved space.) I have to confess that I exceeded the speed limit going up the ramp from the 1st floor to the 2nd floor, but the reason was that the car couldn’t get up the gradient if I stuck religiously to the speed limit. That’s my story, anyway.
I used the time quite productively as I was inching along, calculating that it would take around 15 minutes for me to get to my space if I stuck to the prescribed limit. I also worked out that it would be quicker to walk. I also thought up the plot for a new children’s book. And then - I crashed into a pillar because I’d lost concentration. That’s my excuse, anyway. The Company obviously knows best.
That’s beautiful. Perhaps, if the Moderators don’t mind, we can indeed broaden the scope of this poll to include zaniest signs (plus photos, if available).
I have to make one slight confession. Both the signs I was referring to were actually in kmh (5 and 8 respectively), but I translated them for our predominantly American readership. That does, I realise, give a figure nearer to 3.1 mph for my car park. I apologise (or apologize, for my American friends) for taking liberties in this way.
One gets so torn sometimes between the desire to be accurate and the desire to perfect the laid-back ars est celare artem * style of humorous post (together with catchy Eve-esque title) that will attract lots of views and generate lots of replies. As I ponder entering my second year on the dope, I do tend to measure my impact, and therefore the raison d’être ** of my time here, on the degree of influence I have.
Translation given for my friend Starving Artist and others smart enough never to have studied Latin.
** ditto for French
Okay. America forgives you. Besides, we can’t do math, so we appreciate the hand up.
In my car park, the speed limit is 5 mph (which translates, roughly to 140 kmh* [or so you’d think, watching some of these yahoos driving in]). I had to park at least five levels down. Each level was a tenth of a mile. So, to get to my spot, I had to drive half a mile at 5 mph. That’s right, kids: if I obeyed the speed limit, it would take me ten minutes** to get from the entrance of the parking garage to my parking space.
So I was always one of those yahoos doing 140 kmh through the garage.
*What? I said we can’t do math.
**I never said we couldn’t operate calculators.
I don’t have a picture, but my old high school had signs saying, literally, 2 mph. Of course, the mountainous speed bumps they had in place around the elementary building (and justifiably so, it was a small private high school and idiotic 16 year olds went through until they found out about the back way into the JV lot…ANYway) would destroy the bottom of any car that wasn’t jacked up well over a foot if one chose to exceed the limit. Also, mean old ladies would blow whistles at you if you went slightly above. They had an innate, psychic sense telling them if someone was going 4 mph.
But yeah, 2 mph.
Also, Opry Mills Mall has signs for 16 (or maybe 17…been a while) mph.
The Disneyland parking structure has a speed limit of 14 MPH. My theory is that there’s some sort of financial hit at 15MPH. Maybe larger insurance premiums or something of that nature. 14 1/2 is just about as high as you can go and stay under 15.
Speaking of fractional limits, there’s a parking lot in Lafayette, LA with a sign that reads 9 9/10 MPH. Yup, nine and nine-tenths!
Unfortunately I didn’t take a picture before I moved away last month, but if anyone local to the area is really curious, it’s at an office building on S. Beadle Rd., about halfway in between Kaliste Saloom Rd. and Verot School Rd.
My favourite Christian song is one by Don Francisco. When I first heard it in 1979, it introduced me to the strange world of parking lots. Here goes:
I don’t care how many buses you own
Or the size of your sanctuary
It doesn’t matter how steep your steeple is
If it’s sitting on a cemetery
I don’t care if you pave your parking lot
Or put pads upon your pews
What good is a picture perfect stage
If you’re missing all the cues?
As far as I know, the crosswalks in Ontario are designed assuming an average pedestrian speed of 1.5 metres per second, a brisk walk at most. This speed assumption governs things like how long the walk signal lasts for pedestrians crossing wide streets.
On a hunch, I converted m/s to MPH. My hunch proved correct. 1.5 m/s = 3.356 MPH.
Yes, roger thornhill, your speed limit is slower than Official Walking Speed.
