There is an intersection, not far from my house, that has a stop sign going the wrong way. it's in a T shape, and the road that ends does not have a stop sign, while the road it T's onto does. Many times I've been tempted to constructively vandalize this stop sign, and move it to the proper place to make the intersection safe. however, I'm worried about the consequences and generally don't want to bother with it.
enter the Corps of Civil Editors. these people are hired (or volunteer) to tour the country and find bits in various government agencies/infrastructure that are not in accordance with the rules, or are unsafe (by design, rather than lack of maintenance.) The Editors have the expertise to identify these mistakes, and the authority to fix them. I'm sure they could increase the efficiency of several government agencies/programs, and would hopefully get around to fixing my stop sign.-- fischerman, May 24 2011 BBC News: Civil Editors Needed - In Welsh http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7702913.stm [zen_tom, May 24 2011] Civil Editor branded as a graffiti artist http://www.telegrap...ayward-grammar.html [TomP, May 24 2011] Sounds exactly like Richard Ankrom http://www.good.is/...eal-public-service/I drove by this sign many times in the eight years it was up. [ytk, May 24 2011] our local paper has a feature in which people submit things like your sign and the reporters in charge of the feature try to make some entity take responsibility and fix it.-- bungston, May 24 2011 [+] A little like the Imperial Chinese office of censor.-- mouseposture, May 24 2011 Maybe it could be a program where licensed engineers would have the option of getting paid extra for identifying things like that on their days off and sending instructions to a dedicated crew, who would then do the actual fixing (and bill the contractor that screwed it up in the first place).-- DIYMatt, May 24 2011 //it's in a T shape// Capitalization //road it T's onto// Misuse of apostrophe //however, I'm worried// Capitalization //enter the Corps// Capitalization //these people are// Capitalization //unsafe (by design, rather than lack of maintenance.)// Period should come after close parenthesis
[+] Where do I apply for the job?-- ytk, May 24 2011 [ytk] I think you should become a politician and create the job, that you might apply for it.-- fischerman, May 24 2011 [+] There would be so many things to fix here where I live...-- xandram, May 24 2011 My town features two T-intersections exactly like this--one of them is at the end of a bridge with high rails, hampering visibility. Worse, we are in a high-tourism area, so all the locals who normally breeze around the corner are stuck chewing on thier steering wheels (or handlebars) while the outtatowners sit there with thier blinker on trying to figure out how it works. It's bad enough in a car, but they make me _really_ nervous when I'm on my motorcycle.
And this is in a town that only has four major intersections. WHY?!!-- Alterother, May 24 2011 and half the intersections are like this? and here I was thinking it was an isolated incident...-- fischerman, May 24 2011 Half of the major ones, yes. There are a dozen or so little three- and four-way stops in the residential areas, but this is a little 700-odd population town in the mountains, making it all the more ridiculous that half of our high- traffic intersections are these strange one-stop right-angle things. It has something to do with the path of the major through-ways, but that doesn't make it any better (or safer).-- Alterother, May 24 2011 Our street sign is covered by leaves now that spring has come. If they would come and clip away the clutter, I'd be damn grateful! Bring em on...+-- blissmiss, May 24 2011 I'll bun that! [+]-- whatrock, May 05 2023 So a few years ago my road had some workers come down and dig holes every few meters to check the gas supply pipes. Then they put everything back and left. But there were these occasional places where that didn't quite work; a paver wasn't slotted into place correctly, there was one missing or something like that. I walked past one every day which stuck up, a pretty significant trip hazard. After a couple of months of hoping that someone would come round, check the work and fix it, I discovered that it was possible to report this sort of issue to the council online. Very convenient. So I reported it, thinking maybe someone would get around to it eventually. And fuck me, they'd sent someone round to fix it immediately; within the hour I had an email saying it had been 'made safe' - and it had! (I checked.) And later they did a more permanent fix and emailed me that, too.
Drunk on this newfound power, I started reporting other similar issues as I came across them, on the same and nearby roads. They always fixed it immediately, even if I reported it on Sunday evening!
I like to imagine that their service is like the Thunderbirds crossed with Ghostbusters - someone shouts "We got a call!" and hits a big red button. Various signals and alarums. People slide down greasy poles into service. The report is inspected, and a loadout is decided. A trailer is selected, configured and attached to the truck automatically, using various conveyors. Then the truck drives off on its mission, alarms blaring.
A year or so later, the pavement was replaced with tarmacadam for the full length of the road. I don't know if they'd noticed a sudden up-tick of reports in the area and decided this was easier, but it does seem to have precluded other issues.
So I guess what I'm saying is, if you notice something like that - see if you can report the issue; it might get fixed.-- Loris, May 05 2023 This is disturbing news, [Loris]; you might be living in The Truman Show.-- pertinax, May 09 2023 What [pertinax] said. I've never heard of a local government actually doing helpful things, let alone doing them immediately. An alternate reality seems more likely. What color is the sun where you live?-- Voice, May 09 2023 Sign me up! I'm already an elite member of the international guerrilla Civil Editors Assoc., Punctuation Division, what with fixing signs surreptitiously with my (mostly) black (but also many other fine colours of) Sharpie™ and my 'whiteout™' (in several sign-matching shades).
Yes, I'm aware that signs are often misspelled for effect. I mainly fix misused apostrophes. Put me on speed-dial.-- Sgt Teacup, May 09 2023 random, halfbakery