Colorado leads the nation in confusing traffic signs and signals.
I am pretty sure I drove by a speed limit sign on the Front Range last month that said, “Speed Limit 65/55 mph from 5:15 p.m. to 7:08 a.m. between Oct. 18 and April 16 every third Thursday on leap years when adult field mice are present during daylight savings time, 45 mph trucks over 16,000 GVW.”
I actually don’t know if this is what the sign said or not, as I didn’t have time to read or process it all.
The school zone speed limit in front of the new high school reads, “20 mph when children are present.” Does this oblige the driver to pull over and card young looking pedestrians who may not be minors before resuming the speed limit?
What constitutes the presence of a child?
Does it count if they are in a car going three times the posted speed limit in the other direction?
Is a child walking down a street staring at an Iphone really present?
Or are we talking about the kind of present they get on Christmas?
A flashing yellow light over a speed limit sign that says “when flashing” makes it crystal clear.
Then there are the new flashing yellow arrows. I once got a ticket for going through a yellow light in Wheatridge. The cop told me, “I gave you a ticket because your back end dropped down, which means you hit the gas. You never hit the gas when you see yellow lights over your lane of travel, ever.” It was a lesson that stuck.
Judging by the number of people who don’t know what to do when faced with a bank of solid red lights with a flashing yellow arrow, I am not the only one who got a ticket for touching the gas pedal with a yellow light over my lane of travel.
Nels. W. Lopez
Cortez
