# When was...\[the last time you saw these things while driving?\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 20, 2015, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-you-saw-these-things-while-driving/720417 "2015-05-20T11:13:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stainless_steel_rat/32/5727_2.png) [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2015, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-you-saw-these-things-while-driving/720417/21 "2015-05-20T20:22:57Z")
This is dating myself, but I’m old enough to remember the Burma Shave signs along the road and being amazed (I was only 5-6) that they could come up with all those rhymes… For you young’ns… [Burma-Shave - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burma-Shave) ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2015, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-you-saw-these-things-while-driving/720417/22 "2015-05-20T20:54:35Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > (Free-standing) STUCKEY’S! Last weekend, northern VA, Rt 13 (eastern shore) > [@LSLGuy](#): > > Been awhile since I last saw a Cadillac-based ambulance. > > Good Humor men (and trucks) are rather rare as well. Caddy ambuli haven’t been made new in many years & all remaining ones should be antiques by now. Not specifically Good Humor brand, but we do have an ice cream man that drives thru our neighborhood on a regular basis. I’ll add Mail Pouch tobacco sign on the side of a barn ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2015, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-you-saw-these-things-while-driving/720417/23 "2015-05-20T21:08:24Z")
Hitchhiking is very common here. Most any time of the day you will see a few people with their thumbs out on a drive into town. Our particular form of road detritus is roadkill chickens and crabs. Chickens any time of the year. Crabs are seasonal and should be coming soon. Those crab claws can pop a tire! ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2015, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-you-saw-these-things-while-driving/720417/24 "2015-05-20T21:46:49Z")
I literally saw a hitchhiker this morning. On the island where I live people hitchhike along the main road all the time. They’re either coming from or going to the main village or the ferry dock. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2015, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-you-saw-these-things-while-driving/720417/25 "2015-05-20T22:31:25Z")
Ahh yes, the old Unwound Cassette Tape On The Side Of The Road. I remember it well, usually tangled in tall grass, or wrapped about a bush. It was amazing how much tape was actually in those things! I haven’t seen one in a while. Perhaps we should put one in a museum somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2015, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-you-saw-these-things-while-driving/720417/26 "2015-05-20T23:45:53Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > Last weekend, northern VA, Rt 13 (eastern shore) \ OMG, REALLY? Did you stop and get a pecan log? Could you eat it? How many teeth did you break? Were you downy oshun? In the wooder? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2015, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-you-saw-these-things-while-driving/720417/27 "2015-05-21T00:33:26Z")
How about a chain gang? One actually in chains. Although, maybe they still do that in the South. That’s where I saw one in, maybe, 1967. ---
**Author:** ![jsquire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ce73a5/32.png) [@jsquire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsquire)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2015, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-you-saw-these-things-while-driving/720417/28 "2015-05-21T00:36:48Z")
I recently saw a yellow “Baby on Board” sign hanging in a car’s rear window. Until then, I hadn’t noticed that something which was once ubiquitous has now virtually disappeared. ---
**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2015, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-you-saw-these-things-while-driving/720417/29 "2015-05-21T01:00:05Z")
Are there still any places in the states that have those beautiful glass and ceramic insulators on the power, telephone lines? I’ve seen them collected and used for knick-knacks but other than that, it’s been decades. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2015, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-you-saw-these-things-while-driving/720417/30 "2015-05-21T01:48:01Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > I remember driving along Southern highways about 15 years ago and seeing just an amazing, seemingly continuous stretch of disintegrated tire parts. Shortly thereafter Firestone was forced to recall about 5,000,000 tires because of tread separation in the heat, Ford Explorers especially impacted. I don’t see that anymore, it was just a couple of years that roadside strewn rubber was prolific. Here in Florida at least we have regular shifts of workers who clean up the road gators. ---
**Author:** ![DummyGladHands](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@DummyGladHands](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DummyGladHands)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2015, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-you-saw-these-things-while-driving/720417/31 "2015-05-21T14:39:28Z")
Actually saw a tape unthreaded all over the side of the road the other day. It astonished me to think how long it’d been since I’d seen one. Then I wondered who had a tape deck in their vehicle. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2015, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-you-saw-these-things-while-driving/720417/32 "2015-05-21T14:50:53Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > Here in Florida at least we have regular shifts of workers who clean up the road gators. No, no, you don’t understand. In most of the US, the “road alligators” don’t bite. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2015, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-you-saw-these-things-while-driving/720417/33 "2015-05-21T14:52:16Z")
> [@DummyGladHands](#): > > Actually saw a tape unthreaded all over the side of the road the other day. It astonished me to think how long it’d been since I’d seen one. Then I wondered who had a tape deck in their vehicle. My company truck, a 2001 Dodge Ram 4x4, has a cassette deck. I have a cassette tape shaped adapter that gives me a plug for my iPod. Until last summer, I had a working 8-track player in my garage plugged into the aux port of an old Sony am fm receiver. I had a couple dozen tapes. A roof leak took it all out. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Angry\_Badger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b38774/32.png) [@The\_Angry\_Badger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Angry_Badger)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2015, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-you-saw-these-things-while-driving/720417/34 "2015-05-21T15:06:54Z")
> [@jsquire](#): > > I recently saw a yellow “Baby on Board” sign hanging in a car’s rear window. Until then, I hadn’t noticed that something which was once ubiquitous has now virtually disappeared. Ugh. For some reason, they’re still common as hell here in the UK. I thought they’d died out but they seem to have made a resurgence in the last couple of years. Maybe this is the next generation that grew up without seeing them everywhere? One thing I haven’t seen for a while: Those anti static ground straps that you used to see dangling off the back bumper of cars. You can still get them, but I haven’t seen one on a car for years. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2015, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-you-saw-these-things-while-driving/720417/35 "2015-05-21T17:27:00Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > Ahh yes, the old Unwound Cassette Tape On The Side Of The Road. I remember it well, usually tangled in tall grass, or wrapped about a bush. It was amazing how much tape was actually in those things! I haven’t seen one in a while. Perhaps we should put one in a museum somewhere. Roughly 10 feet of tape per minute of playing time. So a long duration C120 cassette held 600 feet of tape, while a sort duration C60 held 300 feet. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2015, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-you-saw-these-things-while-driving/720417/36 "2015-05-21T17:30:29Z")
> [@tapu](#): > > Are there still any places in the states that have those beautiful glass and ceramic insulators on the power, telephone lines? I’ve seen them collected and used for knick-knacks but other than that, it’s been decades. Huh? Every power line has insulators at every pole today. Bar none. Telephone lines pretty much never did. But telegraph & signal lines which ran along railroad rights-of-way did, at least in the very early years. ---
**Author:** ![Philliam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/philliam/32/3011_2.png) [@Philliam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philliam)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2015, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-you-saw-these-things-while-driving/720417/37 "2015-05-21T21:43:37Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > I literally saw a hitchhiker this morning. On the island where I live people hitchhike along the main road all the time. They’re either coming from or going to the main village or the ferry dock. Same as on our island a little farther north. We even have some “rider locations” marked where people can catch a ride. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2015, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-you-saw-these-things-while-driving/720417/38 "2015-05-21T22:00:41Z")
I don’t think I’ve seen a big cabover semi (like [this](http://www.smart-trucking.com/images/kenworth-1985-k100-clifford-500.jpg)) in a long time. Wiki [says](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cab_over): > [@Wikipedia](#): > > This truck configuration is currently common among European and Japanese truck manufacturers, because the laws governing overall vehicle lengths are strict and the body style allows longer trailers (in the case of a tractor-trailer truck) or a longer cargo area (in the case of a “straight” truck, a truck with a single rigid frame supporting all components and the load) for the same overall length. > > Although popular among United States heavy truckers and trucking companies during the 1970s because of strict length laws in many states, when those length laws were repealed, most heavy-truck makers moved to other body styles. It is, however, still very popular in the light- and medium-duty truck segment. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2015, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-you-saw-these-things-while-driving/720417/39 "2015-05-21T22:06:13Z")
I think the last hitchhiker I saw was myself, perhaps five years ago, getting from the Bozeman airport back into town (I swore I’d never give the taxi company another dime, after they made me miss a flight and made no attempt at an apology). But then, I’m always on a bike, not in a car, so hitchers aren’t making any attempt to get me to notice them. If I do see any, I’d just file them away as walkers. ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2015, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-you-saw-these-things-while-driving/720417/40 "2015-05-21T22:20:51Z")
> [@DummyGladHands](#): > > Actually saw a tape unthreaded all over the side of the road the other day. It astonished me to think how long it’d been since I’d seen one. Then I wondered who had a tape deck in their vehicle. I had one in several former vehicles and traveled I-95 or 301/17 between south and north many times a year and recorded ‘easy listening’ stations up and down the coast, WJIB in Boston, WFOG in Norfolk, WXLM in Savannah. I recently pulled the tapes out of storage and actually spent 2 hours last evening sorting them and other ‘botten’ ones by type. Have several from Savannah during the Vietnam War which include news reports of battleground advances/defeats. Took some to work to play instead of the cd’s I’ve been using. Several of the cassettes have fair to good sound quality even after 40 years of storage but many have axle squeal and low volume, even when it’s cranked up. Maybe I should start traveling 95 again and throw one out the window every time I hit a pothole. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-you-saw-these-things-while-driving/720417.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-was-the-last-time-you-saw-these-things-while-driving/720417.md?page=3)