Okay, one time might have been a coincidence but this is the second time I’ve seen it this decade, so it must be ALL OVER THE PLACE!
You know the signs that say “Sidewalk ends in 1000 feet”? There are two of them in my local area that say something like “Sidewalk ends in 1040 feet” or “Sidewalk ends in 2365 feet” :dubious:
Are there blind people who use GPS that will warn them their sidewalk is about to end? Is there another reason I can’t think of to provide such an oddly specific warning? No other warnings I’ve seen (such as “highway ending”) have been that specific.
They knew the exact number before the first part of the sidewalk was poured. And if you’re going to round it off, you need to consider where you round it off (which not as simple as you’d think), and you have to warn people it’s an approximate number (legal liability). It’s far easier just to print the exact number you already know.
By the way, these signs and their placement are designed by engineers who tend to be sticklers for accuracy as a breed (it’s part of what we pay them for.)
I always walk the exact number of steps necessary to reach the end of a sidewalk according to the posted sign. If it’s not accurate I could trip and fall, or not reach the end and be stuck there forever.
The signs are very precise, but are they actually accurate to within their stated precision? My guess is that they’re not, and that they were put in by some subpar technician who just didn’t know how to round properly. His calculator told him 2365, and so 2365 is what he put on the sign.
That’s as good a theory as any. I guess the signs are not pre-printed but custom made (at least the number), and with that capability there probably isn’t anyone to tell people they have to round, so no one wants to stick their neck out to round, so the number just goes all the way through the system.
They stick the post in the ground and then measure to where the sidewalk ends and then add the sign on to the post complete with the accurate measurement.
Not sure why you’d want them to be incorrect just for the sake of having a neat figure.
My previous post may have been the gentlest of whooshes but actually in the UK we sometimes see oddly precise figures in the news and media and the most common reason for that is a conversion from metric to imperial.
e.g. The ex-TV presenter has been served with a restraining order and can not now come within 820.21 feet of any of his co-hosts.
Perhaps a tangent, but what is the harm if the figure on the sign is incorrect?
The reason I ask is that I have found highway signs showing distances to be inaccurate. In today’s world of everyone having a GPS on their phone, perhaps it doesn’t matter as much, but in the not-so-distant past, I would often take the sign’s mileage, add it to the odometer, and compare it to the next sign. Often they would agree, but sometimes they would not and differ by several miles. Some could be explained by changes in the route, but some could not.
In particular, I remember a sign from my youth that read something like “State Park 28 miles” and you’d go 28 miles and still be 4 or 5 miles away from the state park. That is too much a difference for odometer error, and there was no alternative route that was more direct, the state highway was the most direct route. The best I could figure was either the just made the sign wrong and figured nobody would notice, or the sign had been relocated.
Of course, today, the highway department would get flooded with e-mails because anyone with a phone had the means to check the accuracy and shoot off the e-mail without any trouble. Of course, in the old days, you would have had to write a letter and mail it, only after you found the correct address, which would cut down on a lot of the responses.
In Minnesota, there used to be signs on highways telling you ‘reduced speed 1/5 mile’ (they may still be there, but I think they all just say ‘reduced speed ahead’ now).
1/5 mile seemed an odd number - the assumption among the high schoolers with fast cars was that they didn’t use 1/4 mile because it would make drag racing too easy.
Another tangent, but what purpose do “Sidewalk Ends” signs serve? Its not like road signs for vehicles where “Roadway Ends 1000 feet” is a safety issue, so that drivers know to slow down and eventually stop. If I am walking from point A to point B and come upon a “Sidewalk Ends” sign I’m not going to turn around and go back - I’m just going to start walking on the grass or the shoulder for the rest of my trip. What am I missing?
Yes, but you might want to start planning an alternate route before that point. There might not be a ramp access to the street right at the end of the sidewalk, for instance.
