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recursiveyesterday at 6:56 PM5 repliesview on HN

This is close to a particular peeve I have. Occasionally I see signs on the street that say "Slow Down". I'm not talking about the electronic ones connected to radar detectors. Just metal and paint.

Here's my problem. If you follow the instructions on the sign, it still says to slow down. There's no threshold for slow enough. No matter how slow you're going, the sign says "Slow Down". So once you become ensnared in the visual cone of this sign, you'll be forced to sit stationary for all eternity.

But maybe there's a loop-hole. It doesn't say how fast you must decelerate. So if you come into the zone going fast enough, and decelerate slowly enough, you can make it past the sign with some remaining non-zero momentum.

You know, I've never been diagnosed on the spectrum, but I have some of the tendencies. lol.


Replies

GenerocUsernameyesterday at 7:15 PM

Obviously a static sign is not aware of your current state, so it's message can only be interpreted as relevant to your likely state... i.e. the posted speed limit.

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Nitionyesterday at 8:10 PM

A lot of clickbait headlines have the same problem. "You're using too much washing powder!"

Everyone's replying to you as if you truly don't understand the sign's intention but I'm sure you do. It's just annoying to be doing everything right and the signs and headlines are still telling you you're wrong.

There was a driving safety safety ad campaign here: "Drive to the conditions. If they change, reduce your speed." You can imagine how slow we'd all be going if the weather kept changing.

We might have OCPD.

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throwway120385yesterday at 7:10 PM

Think of it like they're saying "my children play on this street and my neighbors walk here. Please think about that when you decide how fast to go here."

aembletonyesterday at 11:36 PM

You learn how to put those signs into context during your driving lessons, and fail your test if you don't apply that correctly.

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soulofmischiefyesterday at 7:32 PM

Think of the sign as a flag, not an instruction.