Road signs that ask questions

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Skipsy
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Road signs that ask questions

Post by Skipsy »

So I checked out a site where Tom Scott recorded a video about a manually operated gate at a level crossing, and stumbled across this sign:
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.27484 ... 6656?hl=en
It was very odd to me that a road sign would ask a question, rather than just saying something like "Make sure to lower the barrier behind you"
How common are these road signs that ask the reader a question, rather than just giving you an order etc.
tom66
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Re: Road signs that ask questions

Post by tom66 »

In the town I grew up in (Basingstoke), car parks would have signs along the lines of "Have you paid for your parking?"
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Re: Road signs that ask questions

Post by Big L »

Make poetry history.

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Skipsy
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Re: Road signs that ask questions

Post by Skipsy »

Big L wrote: Mon Dec 21, 2020 21:52 There's this in Huntingdon.
Interesting, had to look around a bit for it: https://www.google.com/maps/@52.3387478 ... 312!8i6656
I suppose the left bend exiting the roundabout is bound to not cancel a left indicator
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Big L
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Re: Road signs that ask questions

Post by Big L »

Skipsy wrote: Mon Dec 21, 2020 21:58
Big L wrote: Mon Dec 21, 2020 21:52 There's this in Huntingdon.
Interesting, had to look around a bit for it: https://www.google.com/maps/@52.3387478 ... 312!8i6656
I suppose the left bend exiting the roundabout is bound to not cancel a left indicator
That's the chap. Stupid google 'share' button.
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Re: Road signs that ask questions

Post by tom66 »

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.26181 ... 6656?hl=en

Here's one example, from 2009, though it looks like these were replaced with the more instructional "PAY AT METER"
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Re: Road signs that ask questions

Post by traffic-light-man »

'Have you paid and displayed?' was the first one to enter my head, but I'm not sure they're as common these days as they were certainly in the 90s.

I think I read somewhere (possibly here) regarding some temporary ones erected in connection with a temporary one way system (IIRC), that read over several signs something along the lines of "Are you reading this?" and "If you are, STOP TURN BACK" or similar.
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Re: Road signs that ask questions

Post by WHBM »

USA tunnels commonly have a "Lights on" sign at the approach, and "Lights off ?" on exit.
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Re: Road signs that ask questions

Post by L.J.D »

There's a few of these dotted around Wakefield area.
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Re: Road signs that ask questions

Post by fras »

Here's another rail crossing near Oakhanger, on the east side of Crewe, on the Crewe-Alsager line.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.08256 ... 6656?hl=en

At one time there would have been a crossing keeper, and that's his old house alongside, still occupied but not for the crossing job. When I moved to Crewe in 1995, this line had a very sparse service of one passenger train an hour in each direction. Now it has four an hour as the slow service Crewe-London via Stoke-on-Trent comes this way. The line was electrified when the West Coast Main Line modernisation program was underway in the 90s/00s to ease the weekend diversions of electric trains.
If you're wondering, yes, I have crossed with a car twice, once in each direction. Nobody really uses it as a through route because there is a nearby road that passes over the line on a bridge.

All these types of low road traffic crossings are called "user controlled crossings". There is no signalman involvement, hence the red/green lights.
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Chris Bertram
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Re: Road signs that ask questions

Post by Chris Bertram »

fras wrote: Tue Dec 22, 2020 20:55 Here's another rail crossing near Oakhanger, on the east side of Crewe, on the Crewe-Alsager line.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.08256 ... 6656?hl=en

At one time there would have been a crossing keeper, and that's his old house alongside, still occupied but not for the crossing job. When I moved to Crewe in 1995, this line had a very sparse service of one passenger train an hour in each direction. Now it has four an hour as the slow service Crewe-London via Stoke-on-Trent comes this way. The line was electrified when the West Coast Main Line modernisation program was underway in the 90s/00s to ease the weekend diversions of electric trains.
If you're wondering, yes, I have crossed with a car twice, once in each direction. Nobody really uses it as a through route because there is a nearby road that passes over the line on a bridge.

All these types of low road traffic crossings are called "user controlled crossings". There is no signalman involvement, hence the red/green lights.
"Have you closed the gates" has a "?" in one direction but not the other. Incidentally, the railway formation clearly has room for double track, was this a more important line in past times?
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fras
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Re: Road signs that ask questions

Post by fras »

Chris Bertram wrote: Tue Dec 22, 2020 21:03
fras wrote: Tue Dec 22, 2020 20:55 Here's another rail crossing near Oakhanger, on the east side of Crewe, on the Crewe-Alsager line.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.08256 ... 6656?hl=en

At one time there would have been a crossing keeper, and that's his old house alongside, still occupied but not for the crossing job. When I moved to Crewe in 1995, this line had a very sparse service of one passenger train an hour in each direction. Now it has four an hour as the slow service Crewe-London via Stoke-on-Trent comes this way. The line was electrified when the West Coast Main Line modernisation program was underway in the 90s/00s to ease the weekend diversions of electric trains.
If you're wondering, yes, I have crossed with a car twice, once in each direction. Nobody really uses it as a through route because there is a nearby road that passes over the line on a bridge.

All these types of low road traffic crossings are called "user controlled crossings". There is no signalman involvement, hence the red/green lights.
"Have you closed the gates" has a "?" in one direction but not the other. Incidentally, the railway formation clearly has room for double track, was this a more important line in past times?
The line has never been fully double track. The single section is about half the length, from the bridge over the new A5020, (this built to take a double-track), to shortly after the Mill Lane level crossing. There used to be a station at Radway Green for the ammunition factory and sidings as well. All gone now.
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Re: Road signs that ask questions

Post by vlad »

fras wrote: Tue Dec 22, 2020 22:02 The [Alsager to Crewe] line has never been fully double track.
I assure you it has!
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Re: Road signs that ask questions

Post by fras »

vlad wrote: Wed Dec 23, 2020 20:40
fras wrote: Tue Dec 22, 2020 22:02 The [Alsager to Crewe] line has never been fully double track.
I assure you it has!
OK, but please tell us all the history.
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Re: Road signs that ask questions

Post by fras »

fras wrote: Wed Dec 23, 2020 22:29
vlad wrote: Wed Dec 23, 2020 20:40
fras wrote: Tue Dec 22, 2020 22:02 The [Alsager to Crewe] line has never been fully double track.
I assure you it has!
OK, but please tell us all the history. I am pretty certain it was part single when I joined BR in 1971. There was then also a curve to the south taking the line under the WCML to Basford Hall Yard. The line even had overhead wiring for a very short distance, including this curve.
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Re: Road signs that ask questions

Post by vlad »

fras wrote: Wed Dec 23, 2020 22:29
vlad wrote: Wed Dec 23, 2020 20:40
fras wrote: Tue Dec 22, 2020 22:02 The [Alsager to Crewe] line has never been fully double track.
I assure you it has!
OK, but please tell us all the history.
All the history...? I'll keep it brief.

The line was built by the North Staffordshire Railway as their route to Crewe and (over LNWR metals) Liverpool. Quick (2020) states Alsager station opened on 9th October 1848 so I'd assume the line opened to passengers on the same day. At one time services included excursion trains from North Staffordshire to Rhyl, but in the latter part of the 20th century it was run down. The railforums.co.uk thread here states that part of the line west of the M6 was singled in 1985 at the same time as the lines around Crewe station were remodelled. The line was only used by one train in each direction at the time so it wasn't felt that 2 lines were needed. Having said that, the line is still accessible from all platforms at Crewe, with the possible exception of 12 (and the definite exception of 9 and 10 as they face north), which is something that can't be said for every line off the station.

The line was electrified in 2003 purely to act as a diversionary route so it presumably wasn't deemed necessary to redouble it. However, there's now an extra train each hour in each direction (the LNR one from Crewe - Stoke - Birmingham and beyond) which has to fit around the EMR one from Crewe to Derby - and when WCML trains are diverted this way there's chaos if trains aren't running to time. The bridge over the new A5020 is double-width which would allow the line to be redoubled (as the rest of the infrastructure remains double-width); unfortunately it's more expensive to double an electrified line than a non-electrified line!

Note that the OS 7th Series map (here) shows the line as double - single-track lines were mapped differently.
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Re: Road signs that ask questions

Post by PhilC »

There's this sign which asks you if you've remembered the speed limit in Welford-on-Avon.

https://goo.gl/maps/mpzHGjAMqVAV21Fh6
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Re: Road signs that ask questions

Post by jcdti »

PhilC wrote: Wed Dec 30, 2020 15:30 There's this sign which asks you if you've remembered the speed limit in Welford-on-Avon.

https://goo.gl/maps/mpzHGjAMqVAV21Fh6
Hahaha, I love that one. Almost sarcastic in its tone.
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Chris Bertram
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Re: Road signs that ask questions

Post by Chris Bertram »

PhilC wrote: Wed Dec 30, 2020 15:30 There's this sign which asks you if you've remembered the speed limit in Welford-on-Avon.

https://goo.gl/maps/mpzHGjAMqVAV21Fh6
Well, given that there are no street lights, quite possibly. Also the road is straight and reasonably wide, with properties set well back. It's a no-brainer for a 40 limit really, 30 is a nonsense.
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Re: Road signs that ask questions

Post by jonnyf90 »

I like the beautifully simple Spanish system of this sign before a tunnel:
https://goo.gl/maps/9rF1PBdZZQuNc5yg9

And this one as you exit:

https://goo.gl/maps/CzYyVdPNXra719Gt9

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