Posted on 03/16/2006 2:13:35 PM PST by barj
Arts center sign latest Hwy. 101 snag Drivers complain blurry messages a distraction that adds to commute time By RANDI ROSSMANN THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Adding to the list of problems that slowed traffic on Highway 101 this week was the bright new electric sign alerting drivers to upcoming shows at the newly named Wells Fargo Center for the Arts.
But even without the complaint calls that came to the center, arts officials knew they'd made a mistake. The five lines listing coming attractions in amber lights were a blurry distraction to drivers.
"We certainly don't want to be slowing traffic down," said David Fischer, the center's director.
Late Tuesday, the center adjusted its approach and the sign now lists just one show, in bigger letters.
The sign went up with this month's name change from Luther Burbank to Wells Fargo. The banking giant paid the center $3.75 million for naming rights.
The electronic sign stands just east of the northbound lanes on the lawn of the arts center, shortly before the River Road exit. The sign is clearly visible to both northbound and southbound traffic.
Commuter Jane Rogan said the sign slowed her Monday drive to work in northern Santa Rosa.
"I couldn't read what was written there quickly, so it was a distraction to me when I drove," Rogan said. "People were just slowing down to try to read the thing. Here, we are so concerned about traffic and weather, the highway doesn't need another obstacle."
Other drivers said the sign was somewhat blinding and too blurry to read. It wasn't as bad "as the one in Rohnert Park," but still it is difficult to read, said Chloe Kramer-Baldwin, a senior at Sonoma Academy, which shares space with the arts center facility.
Unlike the Rohnert Park sign, which highlights the Spreckles Performing Arts Center, the Wells Fargo center sign will have only single-colored lights and nothing that moves, Fischer said.
But it still caused delays and prompted about 10 calls to the center about the sign.
"They said: A, I can't read it; and B, my commute is longer," said Kristi Buffo, public relations coordinator.
New signs along the Highway 101 corridor have a history of causing delays. In 1991, the large auto mall sign in Petaluma slowed traffic and also drew controversy for its size.
The Spreckles sign in Rohnert Park slowed traffic for weeks and some say its multicolor display still causes vehicles to slow.
Rohnert Park Public Safety Sgt. Art Sweeney said he didn't think the sign affected the flow of traffic anymore, and predicted any slowdowns near the Wells Fargo Center would cease as people get accustomed to the new sign.
Let me guess...
It was a government sign, NOT a commercially paid sign.
A business would (1) NOT have designed it to be blurry.
(2) Tested it at the vender before delivery/payment!
(3) Made sure it was NOT distracting to drivers.
(4) Been fined BY the government powers-that-be.
Nope. Private enterprise.
That damn sign caused traffic to slow to a crawl in the southbound lanes all the way from Airport Blvd to that new sign because even when they are announcing only one show, you can hardly read it. This was at 9 am, which is after the commute.
Well, theoretically you're correct. However, I used to own a sign company, and I can tell you that it was often very difficult convincing customers who owned commercial enterprises to purchase signs that were actually legible. They routinely specified parameters (colors, letter type, letter size, too many words, etc.) that were just not going to combine into something that could be read, and more to the point, read quickly. Or conversely, they wanted a giant telephone number, with the business name relegated to insignificance. And on and on.
In any case, a surprisingly large part of my job was educationg customers as to just what would have a chance of getting a message across. 'Course, when government bureaucrats were the customers, it was even worse - then the most important thing on the sign was often a long list of names of politicians and others who wanted some sort of public credit.
Sign sign everywhere a sign
Damn sign?
Certainly you do not want gov intervention in regulating signs further than they already do?
On my commute home from Mountain View there's a sign on 101 that tells you about the time it's likely to take you to get to 237 and then 880. It's been there long enough that it doesn't slow traffic any more, but when it was first turned on, it sure did. Now it only slows the traffic if it says something different, like an Amber Alert.
"A business would (1) NOT have designed it to be blurry."
Dude, it's an "Arts Center". Common sense in design is not what these types are about.
It's a little hard to ignore the crawling traffic, although I was tempted to rearend the person in front of me just to get him/her to find the gas pedal. /sarcasm.
Certainly you do not want gov intervention in regulating signs further than they already do?
No. That would just make it 100% worse. However, I think they should make an exception to the normal traffic rules near that sign and state that if you rearend someone near that sign that it's the other person's fault for sitting on the brake to read the sign. (hehehe!)
Oh. I see. An open season law on rubber neckers. Are you going to install a cattle catcher on your vehicle?
Cattle catcher? That's my next purchase for my Jeep!
That would be a more humane way of dealing with them, I suppose. I'm just a city girl, never would have thought of that, hehehe!
Yep. I've a bit of marketing background. Signs and headlines should never be more than seven words, and preferably a lot fewer. Too many words and they won't read it - or in this case, cause them to become dangers on the road.
Yeah, the two wrong things asked for the most were either too many words, or else too much letter height for the space being used.
Ha! Made ya look!
lol!
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