I’m noticing a little trend. The more street art increases in popularity, the more popular defacing street signs becomes. Now, I’m not condoning vandalism, but… I’m certainly not disputing it either. For, frankly, these newly tweaked road signs are far more engaging than their traditional counterparts:
I mean, of course I’m gonna stop, because it’s the perfect time for me to Google ‘anagram.’ Not only do I pause, but I spend a solid 8 minutes shuffling letters at that intersection. A few minutes later, I stumble upon this cross walk:
I doubt I ever noticed that sign before. But the mere concept of Jet Li getting all Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon across that street forces me to slow down. I haven’t driven this slowly in weeks!
Other times, the newly interpreted street sign pushes all of my paranoid white-guilt buttons:
What if there really is a dude in this neighborhood named P-Dog and he’s bad ass? What if he and his homies come out to key every car that’s parked in his space? Of course, I’m too chicken shit to find out, so I gracefully roll into the non-P.Dog designated parking, just in case. Truth is, P.Dog probably lives nowhere near this spot and is some 90 pound hipster with a trust fund and couldn’t key his way out of a locksmith’s office. But that’s ok. I still admire his audacity. But this guy takes the cake:
Because he’s either created a crossing for his favorite bong-toting super hero or depicted himself in a particularly homo-erotic, equine-intensive self portrait. I guess that’s one way to break it to the grandparents..
Either way, it’s clear that we’ve all become immune to street signs. I think creativity is the only route out of our complacency. So let’s get someone edgy to write our street signs. Dear CalTrans, I’m available– you never know “Slow Down, You Douchebag” may really do the trick.
