No parking signs along Turnpike??? Why? (Lancaster, Bristol: lawyer, tax, lawsuits)

[Tracysherm]

Last time we drove the Turnpike from around Philly to around Lancaster, we noticed these signs, every few feet all along the side of the road. What a waste of our tax dollars! I'm sure it was some make-work stimulus project. Do we really need to be told every 50 feet to not park along a highway? I'm sure if someone is pulled over, they have a reason that makes "no parking" rules not applicable (they're attending to something and leaving shortly, or the vehicle is disabled) . The signs are even next to a pull-off area that has a picnic table. So you can eat lunch but you can't park?
I searched online and could find no info on the reason these were put up, the cost, or where the money came from. Does anyone know?

Now I've noticed them on I-95, south of Bristol going toward NE Philly. Again why, and at what cost?

[ki0eh]

I've noticed they've been posting these near most of the wide spots, and some of the wider wide spots have a "Park Behind Line". That was very likely a reaction to incidents like this: NTSB Summary - HAR-00/01 (http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/2000/har0001.htm - broken link) But I've also noticed that the trash barrel and picnic table people haven't necessarily been removing those, must be a different department.

[Tracysherm]

Okay, so even if parking along the highway is a huge safety problem, do we really need a sign every 50 feet? Everyone has to get on the turnpike at a toll plaza, so maybe one sign at each toll plaza entrance would have sufficed?

I'd really rather have my tax dollar go to a few extra state troopers to ticket the people who park inappropriately than to putting up thousands of useless signs all along the road.

I want to know who to write to, but I don't even know whose decision this was: PA because it's the "PA" turnpike, or the feds since it's part of the interstate system?

[Craziaskowboi]

Originally Posted by TracySam

Okay, so even if parking along the highway is a huge safety problem, do we really need a sign every 50 feet? Everyone has to get on the turnpike at a toll plaza, so maybe one sign at each toll plaza entrance would have sufficed?

I'd really rather have my tax dollar go to a few extra state troopers to ticket the people who park inappropriately than to putting up thousands of useless signs all along the road.

I want to know who to write to, but I don't even know whose decision this was: PA because it's the "PA" turnpike, or the feds since it's part of the interstate system?

Many people are unobservant, so if there's just one or two "no parking" signs, they might not notice, but if there's several, then they'll notice.

I've seen "no parking" signs posted every 10 feet alongside right-turn lanes on major arterial roads in Gwinnett County, GA.

[DixieJo]

I'm fairly certain the signs have more to do with tractor trailers, than they do Jane and Joe Traveler pulling over for a picnic.

I remember a couple years ago, there was a big brouhaha about truck driver fatigue and clogging up on/off ramps and shoulders with parked and idling tractor trailers. It brought up a lot of legislative conversation and rules about limits as to how long a truck driver can be on the road, how long they have to stop, and more specifically where trucks can pull over and be parked while the driver takes a nap or sleeps for the night.

They're only a couple years old, but I wonder if there are statistics yet for reduction in accidents, fatalities, and property damage.

[Bazzwell]

Old regulations required signs of the same type to be placed 50 feet from one another as that was the distance an average person could make out one inch tall letters. Granted these have no letters of that size but the old regs on spacing would still apply.

[Tracysherm]

But seriously, seriously? Every X number of feet on a high-speed highway? They don't have speed limit signs every 50 feet.

People are "guessing" that this has to do with truckers, auto fatalities, regulations on street signs, etc, but does anyone really know why these signs are now there?

Does no one else out there think this is terribly wasteful? Is it just me?

The signs did appear since ARRA was passed in 2009 (the stimulus package) so I was assuming they were "shovel ready" jobs, that probably lasted a few days. Big whoop.

These signs are not just near interchanges/ramps/ toll plazas, but along the open stretches of road, where no one would really think to park anyway.

[Bazzwell]

Originally Posted by TracySam

They don't have speed limit signs every 50 feet.

True, but they do have them placed where needed such as shortly after using an entrance ramp or whenever a speed change is required. Otherwise the speed limit can be the same for miles and miles although I'm sure a regulation exists for distance with those too.

[Tracysherm]

So if the rule is that you can't park anywhere along the Turnpike, why not have "No Parking along Turnpike" signs at the toll plazas, where you get on, but not every 50 feet for hundreds and hundreds of miles?
I see what you're saying, but I'm trying to find some consistency.

Geez, I guess I'm the only one who cares about my tax dollar being wasted. No one else seems bothered by this.

[Bazzwell]

But the rule technically isn't the entire turnpike is off limits to parking, just most of it. There are sections that you can pull off for a time, far enough off the main drag that you won't be a danger.

Think about it, what they're trying to do is discourage parking situations that could become dangerous to passing traffic. Some idiot pulling off just far enough to make a call, text, check a tire or just stretch opens the door into traffic or traffic crosses the right white line and hits him in the rear....injuries, massive traffic stop while the accident clears. Lawsuits, liability and so on. "Nobody told me I couldn't park two feet off the highway". Remember, some of the smartest people can be hands down dumb and need a sign every 50 feet to tell them to keep moving. But they also have a lawyer on speed dial.