Paul Sassone

Government often seems to lurch from crisis to crisis.

We have seen plenty of evidence of that in 2015.

But, perhaps we should enter the new year with at least some sense of optimism because government is capable, at times, of actually avoiding crisis.

Take the Great Street Sign Crisis.

The Federal Highway Administration (FHA) noticed that half of all traffic accidents happened at night.

The FHA reasoned that poor visibility of street signs contributed to the problem and decided “to increase public safety by making traffic signs easier to read during all weather conditions.”

And being a government agency, the FHA came up with a book of rules
and regulations for signs, such as:

Signs should use mixed-case letters, not all caps;

Street signs on streets with a speed limit of more than 25 mph should increase letter size from four inches to six inches;

All street signs must be more reflective  — as measured by a retroreflectometer.

Every municipality that receives federal highway funds had to replace signs — by the year 2015 for post-mounted signs and by 2018 for overhead guide signs.

Need I tell you that municipal officials all over the country began frothing at the mouth?

Milwaukee officials estimated it would cost $2 million to replace its street signs.

Another town claimed it would cost $10 for every man, woman and child to comply.

I attended a village board meeting of one town at which spooked trustees trembled they might have to hike property taxes in order to meet the FHA mandate.

Though the regulations were proposed during the Bush administration, news of the mandate surfaced during the Obama administration.

The Obama administration decided it didn’t want to face the wrath of every town in the United States, particularly over a bunch of costly Republican rules, so it shifted into reverse.

Of course, the administration announced, it was a good idea to improve street-sign visibility.

And, to be sure, the FHA solutions are sound ones.

But these solution should be guidelines, not requirements. And they should be done when and how municipalities decide.

And those do-by dates of 2015 and 2018? Merely guidelines, not deadlines.

Crisis averted.

I’m not sure what they are, but are there lessons from the Great Street Sign Crisis that could be applied to the Perpetual Great Illinois Budget Crisis?

You got me.

–Attempting to make sense of the Great Street Sign Crisis–