Beware of Falling Rocks
Posted on 06 March 2009 by Justin
Road signs entertain me. I like signs that contain only words (“Road Slippery When Wet”) and road signs that communicate an idea with a picture. However, if the road sign does not indicate directions (i.e. 75 North —>), tell the speed limit or warn of an upcoming curve, I often do not pay attention. Most road signs communicate common sense information that I find redundant. I do not need to be warned that a bridge is slick when there is frost on the ground. Perhaps the road sign budget should be trimmed by 75% and the excess can be put into the education budget coffers. That way, we can teach people to think instead of putting up road signs that assume no one can.
Some road signs, despite their not so subtle assumption
about a driver’s intelligence, can be amusing. Many mountain roads contain signs like “Watch for Falling Rock”. I think these signs are funny. How is it not possible to see falling rocks? What should I do if a bunch of rocks start falling on me while I speed down a narrow mountain road at 70mph? Evasive maneuvers to avoid falling rocks was not covered in drivers education. I typically see these road signs and chuckle a bit to myself.
A few days ago, the chuckling ended abruptly.
At about 8:00am I was driving down a rarely used stretch of road connecting a remote beach to the main road. As I rounded a curve, I noticed that my lane, and most of the road, were completely blocked by rocks. It was not difficult to clear the rocks from a section of the oncoming lane (Natalie actually did it) and continue onward. Around the next curve however, I again found a pile of rocks covering the road. We once more cleared the rocks from the oncoming lane and drove carefully onward.
After repeating the “stop, clear road, and drive on” routine several more times, I started to reflect on my lack of appreciation for road signs. Perhaps my arrogant mockery (displayed above) is, after all, not entirely appropriate. I still am not sure what to do if I find myself driving through a storm of falling rocks. Speed up in order to get out from under the falling rocks? Stop and take cover in the car to decrease the force of the rocks when they batter the windshield? Stop, Drop, and Roll? Logic dictates that the “Watch for Falling Rock” signs should have initiated this thought process years ago. After all, what other point can these signs possess?
Road signs, despite my introductory rant, are not all useless. Although road signs do not provide very helpful information (such as what to do when your stuck in a landslide) they may give a driver, provided the driver is paying attention, with enough information to avoid a deadly mistake. Then again, they may just warn the driver of an unavoidable fate at the hands of statistics (i.e 1 in 452.5 cars will be hit by falling rocks this year. Congratulations, that means you)
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Yup…I was the 1 in 452 this year. I was driving about 75 mph in the left lane on the highway when I saw a rock about 6″ in diameter bouncing across the right hand lane. My only choice was to speed up to hopefully miss it or at least not have it hit the windshield. It hit just a couple inches in front of the wheel well. I was in tears just thinking about the huge dent I imagined. When I was able to assess the damage it turned out to be a very minor dent that was hardly noticeable.
Oh no Mikki!!! Falling rocks do occur, the signs are there for a reason.