transport: road signs

WHEN I WAS YOUNGER I USED TO BELIEVE THAT THE CATS EYES IN THE ROAD WERE ACTUALLY GLOW IN THE DARK CRYSTALS. I WAS GOING TO BUY A HOUSE NEAR A MAIN ROAD AND DIG THEM UP AT NIGHT TO LIGHT UP MY ROOM. IT WAS A SAD DAY WHEN I FOUND OUT THEY WERE ONLY REFLECTORS.

On the A40, at the outskirts of London is Northolt Airfield. Where the road crosses the centre line of the main runway, the lamp posts are cut down in size. I used to believe (because my father told me)that this was where lamp-posts were grown.

I used to think that signs that read "No Outlet" (meaning a dead-end road) meant that the people on that street had no electrical outlets in their homes. I used to feel so bad for all of the people without electricity and wonder why they would live there.

The road signs on California freeways depict the California Poppy. Driving by the signs on the freeways I always thought they looked like tornados and so thought that we were at risk for getting sucked up into one at any time!

I warned my mother about this at some point in life and she laughed and laughed...then explained what the signs were.

I used to believe that road signs that said "No Passing" meant you couldn't pass that point in the road. I always wondered why my parents drove past those signs.

When my family would go on car trips I would often notice signs that said "Do Not Pass." I used believe that it was against the law to go past the sign, and that the cops were going to come arrest my father as he would pass numerous ones often at high rates of speed. I would slouch down in my seat and look around nervously waiting to be pulled over and arrested.
I didnt understand how we were never arrested until we were driving one day and I mentioned to my father my fear, that he laughed so hard he had to pull the car over and explain it to me.

When i was little we always used to pass this sign in our car. It was a big taco bell sign that said Exit Now! And i thought that you werent allowed to go there it was saying exit now! as your last chance to turn around before the police came after you.

when i was younger, i used to think the "DO NOT PASS" signs meant you couldn't go past the sign and i always wondered why mom would keep going. i thought she would be pulled over or something. then when she didn't, i just guessed that she got lucky because there weren't any cops around.

Written directly on the asphalt on the road that ran past my school were big letters written in white paint: GO CHILDREN SLOW. There were also two life-sized children painted in white beside the warning. I always thought that two children had been run over by a car on that spot and they just painted the flattened bodies to warn other children not to step out onto the road.

I believed that the road sign meaning 'road narrows' meant be careful because there are glass bottles littered on the road ahead. I believed that the sign meaning 'end of speed restriction' was reminding you to wear your seatbelt (white circle with black diagonal line). And I also believed that 'soft verge' meant that there was a roadside fruit and veg stall coming up soon.

When I was little, I'd be in the car with my mom, and I'd see these signs all over town that had a little stick-man with the red "NO" symbol over him and it said, "No Ped X-ing" When I was little, I had no idea what it meant. In my head, I would wonder, "No Ped Zing?"

When I was little my parents told me that the signs warning of "road slumps" were warning motorists of little creatures called slumps which had big feet and ran along the roads. I used to look out for these slumps all along the road, but somehow I never saw one.....

I used to believe that when a street had a 'No Outlet' sign, it meant there was no electricity on that street. I used to also believe the signs that said 'Deaf Children at Play' meant that all the children on that block were deaf.

Loose chippings
My mother told me to shut my window in the car or loose chippings ( these looked like large frogs with sharp teeth) would spring out of the hedge row and eat me. I was probably a teenager when I sussed it

Whenever I saw a sign that said "Not a Through Street", I thought it meant the street was still under construction. They weren't "through" building.

I also confused through and thorough.

As a young child, I used to delight myself in the car by reading the street signs and thus proving to my mom that I was in fact the smartest little kid ever. One day, however, I came across a word I had never seen before. I stared at this foreign word for as long as possible before finally asking my mom, "Mommy, why are only pediatricians allowed to cross here?" My mom quickly realized what I meant and corrected me. In reality, the sign said "Pedestrian Crossing." But hey, give me a break. I must have been three or four.

This probably drove my parents nuts, haha... I remember being on trips telling my parents they couldn't go by those "No Passing Zone" signs by the highway. Also, stop signs made no sense... How long do you stop? How do you know when to go again? No wonder I got D's in driver's ed.
Also it was cool as hell the day I realized that some of the streets go in numerical order in my town from north to south.