In China red means go. Perhaps it's reverse psychology.

It's St.Paul, for christ's sake. What do you expect?

Minnesota in general has some terrible road signs. I never understood what "Accident Investigation Area" meant until I saw people using it. There's a number of freeways that intersect on the map, yet don't intersect in real life. You have to exit and go through neighborhoods to reconnect. Just sheer stupidity.

And for a city that lives under ice and snow for 6 months, every freaking freeway interchange is a g-force laden, spinout-inducing cloverleaf. Terrible civil engineering in Mnpls and St.Paul.

I wonder how much this plan would eventually cost the city? The flags sound like something that high schoolers would end up collecting - I would hazard a guess that the flags wouldn't last more than a day or two before disappearing.

Design by committee only ever results in a decision that no one actually likes, but is the least offensive to the majority of people in the group. I'm pretty certain that's how they decide what TV shows to greenlight at ABC.

They have those here in a suburb of Seattle. Kids don't seem to collect them, but then again nobody ever seems to use them, either. They are, however, Day-Glo orange... proof that somewhere, somebody on a city council understands color perception.

Or maybe the orange flags were just cheaper. =)

-R

They steal the copper wiring out of light poles on the highways here in NYC, so I imagine the flags would go even faster. Or some enterprising hip-hop star would cover them with flyers. Maybe that's the answer: wave a picture of Busta Rhymes in someone's face, they'll stop. Woo haa!

Nice one jonsel. Busta Rhymes... that's good.

Holla back youngun',

Holla back!

Minnesota in general has some terrible road signs. I never understood what "Accident Investigation Area" meant until I saw people using it. There's a number of freeways that intersect on the map, yet don't intersect in real life. You have to exit and go through neighborhoods to reconnect. Just sheer stupidity.

yeah it can be kind of whack around here sometimes. around here you really really really need to have brand new maps. the last 10 years have made waaay to many changes.

a green freaking flag? oh my god. that's ridiculous.

oops i think i missed a tag or something?

now that i think about it. i think by green they mean that new really insanely bright green-yellow that they use on some of the new signs. i hope so anyway. i don't know why they wouldn't make them exactly the same as school crossing guard flags. at least someone would be more likely to recognize it then.

I never understood what "Accident Investigation Area" meant until I saw people using it.

You know what it means? Please tell me! I'm still trying to figure out that one.

now that i think about it. i think by green they mean that new really insanely bright green-yellow that they use on some of the new signs.

Hmm...well, if that's the case, I'll have to tone down my sarcasm a notch as it is a moderately better solution. Still...green = go, red = stop around here. I think.

So what do you do when the flag is on the other side of the road?

> So what do you do when the flag is on the other side of the road?

you leave it in a little receptacle for someone to use on the way back.

I've been at one of the flag crossings here in Seattle, and I'll have to admit that my wife made me use a flag cause we had a stroller and all. But man, did I feel stupid holding that thing, waving it as we crossed a little intersection. I'd almost rather get clipped by a car than have to do that again.

We have bad signage around here too. Our airport wayfinding is especially bad. And it was just redesigned by a big firm here in town. We hosted a small AIGA exec conference last year, and I got an earfull from pissed-off designers who got lost trying to leave the airport.

In addition to the flags the cross walkers should be required to wear swim fins, adult diapers, and a really fucking huge sombrero. That would stop traffic.

wear swim fins, adult diapers, and a really fucking huge sombrero.

Sounds like a really bad stock photo for some dot-com firm like marchFirst. ;-)

Boy! You are on a roll today Jonsel.

> You know what it means? Please tell me! I'm still trying to figure out that one.

Are you serious here Darrel? Cause I'll tell ya. But if you're being sarcastic, I'll have to kick your ass later.

I used to think that "Accident Investigation Site" was some sort of warning sign for a construction/police zone where they were investigating the site of a past, horrific accident or something. Instead, it's just a dumb shoulder area off the highway for people to pull out and check their cars out when they have fender benders. A site where you investigate your accident, get it? Seems kind of stupid -- I mean, if I was in an accident on the freeway, of course I'd get the fuck off the road if I could.

I've never seen this anywhere else besides Minnesota.

I was serious. I had no idea what those signs were for. Now I know!

I've never seen this anywhere else besides Minnesota.

They have those here in Las Vegas, too. I like to see someone come up with an ultimate solution to that kind of silliness and the annoying tendency of most drivers to SLOW DOWN regardless of the accident being on the side of the road and not at all impeding traffic. Wouldn't it be great if police could raise an shield around the accident/stopped motorist that holographically projected BLAND, BORING regular side of the road scenery so no one would even know there was anything to look at?