There's the instant that's supposed to be "100 calories." And it's "cinnamon roll" flavored. And it's... TERRIBLE. Tastes like a packet of Sweet and Low. Don't get me wrong. I'm a positive food guy. I like all the foods. Everything. *That's* how lousy the Cinnamon Roll Oatmeal ("with artificial and natural sweeteners") was!
@jovetj
9 күн бұрын
@@RoadGuyRob There is but one flavor of oatmeal: oatmeal flavor.
@jeffroussell
9 күн бұрын
@@jovetj with lots of brown sugar.
@philliptaylor4544
11 күн бұрын
i just want the painted lines on the road to be visible at night and in the rain
@LegoTux
11 күн бұрын
I have another 6 months before Construction & Painting season rolls around.
@Alex-js5lg
11 күн бұрын
Project them from the streetlights. It's a thing on bicycle paths in Finland.
@user-to7ds6sc3p
11 күн бұрын
Rain is a really big issue that i think is unfixable, because the water messes with the light and reflects/spreads it all over the place. Even the rain in the air does that, so keeping the lines dry would not even fix it completely.
@disorganizedorg
11 күн бұрын
@@user-to7ds6sc3p [water messes with the light and reflects/spreads it all over the place] First responders need to learn this. Flashing strobe lights in the rain serve mostly to impair driver vision and place those responders at greater risk. Flares seem to have fallen out of favor although hey are superior in some cases.
@Heimbasteln
10 күн бұрын
Here in Germany most road markings are sprinkled with retroreflective glass beads when they get made. It works really well when dry and somewhat when wet.
@MySparkle888
10 күн бұрын
If you want to get into the weeds, technology connections spent almost an hour taking about this tech.
@johnleo2668
10 күн бұрын
I just bought many many boxes of Great Value powder dishwasher detergent.
@taylor8849
10 күн бұрын
I was hoping someone would mention him
@bikeny
10 күн бұрын
I'd say 'amazon rain forest' instead of weeds. Dishwashers, turn signals (yippee, I have an amber-colored one), Christmas tree lights. Electric stoves. The guy does cover quite an assortment of stuff. I don't recall when he did the video on this topic, so I am going to go and look for it. Thanks for the reminder.
@justaguy5770
10 күн бұрын
@@bikenydon't forget the best toaster ever made!
@ivy_47
10 күн бұрын
@@bikenyHe inspired me to get my Ioniq 5 lol
@JailbreakTips
10 күн бұрын
physics lesson AND a road infrastructure video combined in one? What a great way to start my Friday!
@RoadGuyRob
10 күн бұрын
What's funny: In my weird education pathway, I only took non-calculus high school physics (in the year... gulp... 2000!) My physics knowledge is a bit... *light*
@gali01992
10 күн бұрын
There's a great example of highway sign reflectivity in the Florida Keys. There are speed limit signs that say "speed limit 45" and "night 35" just below it. The 45 sign is only half reflective so that only "speed limit" is reflective but the 45 is not. The "night 35" sign is fully reflective. At night, all that can be seen is "speed limit night 35". Even when I'm right up at the sign, I can't see the 45 part at night.
@kailahmann1823
10 күн бұрын
in Germany we do the same for the "right on red" signs: They are the only signs explicitly banned from being reflective - because it's much more difficult to see others (especially pedestrians!) in the dark.
@heronimousbrapson863
10 күн бұрын
Washington State had speed limit signs like that in the 1960's and into the '70's, (speed limit 70; trucks/night 60) but they disappeared when the 55 mile-per-hour speed limit was introduced.
@RoadGuyRob
10 күн бұрын
That's really clever. Is that on US-1?
@dmich9
9 күн бұрын
@@RoadGuyRob Yes, specifically on the Big Pine Key
@gali01992
9 күн бұрын
@@RoadGuyRob Yes, on Big Pine Key. Very easy to find on Google Maps because US-1 takes a significant turn to the north. The speed limit was put in place because the island has Key Deer that roam freely over the key (I almost hit one once) and they're considered endangered because Big Pine Key is the only place they can be found in the world. Those speed limit signs are only on Big Pine Key and the rest of the Overseas Highway has normal speed limit signs.
@lawnmowerdude
10 күн бұрын
I remember having a candle. A literal candle that lit up a speed sigh from 60 feet away. It was amazing how much it lit up.
@SmallSpoonBrigade
10 күн бұрын
One of the most effective ways of knowing that your headlights are on is looking at signs and lane markers to see if they're reflecting light back at you as the car lights ahead and behind you aren't going to result in much light reflecting to you.
@OntarioTrafficMan
8 күн бұрын
@@SmallSpoonBrigadeThis doesn't work in Canada because car headlights are always on and the lowest the lowest setting (daytime) is easily bright enough to light up a sign. The best solution is to have an analog dashboard where the dash lights are only on with the headlights. On newer cars I've arrived home and discovered I forgot to turn on the headlights or accidentally knocked them out of 'auto' (i.e. they were in daytime mode). On older cars that would be impossible since I wouldn't have been able to see the dashboard, making it immediately obvious.
@murrethmedia
10 күн бұрын
It's cool because it's basically the opposite of Stealth technology. In stealth they try to have radar bounce away from the source, whereas with road signs the goal is to bounce the light back towards the source.
@galaxyanimal
9 күн бұрын
Though a similar technology CAN be used for passive radar JAMMING, where a normal airplane has a signature the size of a city block to cover what other planes are doing.
@MyDogKillsPeople
9 күн бұрын
I wonder if you just put the film on backwards, does it make it never light up?
@solandri69
9 күн бұрын
They sell radar reflectors for sailboats (sails unfortunately do not reflect radar very well). It's just 3 metal circles intersecting each other at 90 degrees, to make 8 inside cube corners. You just mount or tie it onto your mast, and your sailboat will light up on radar. (Circles so it won't damage the sails if they flap onto it.)
@eaglescout1984
10 күн бұрын
Fun fact: the Apollo crews left retro-reflectors on the moon at the landing sites. So, the ultimate moon landing hoax conspiracy theory debunker is the ability to shoot a laser at the moon and record how much of that laser comes back, which is none due to scattering. But, if you aim it right at the coordinates of one of the retro-reflectors, you will measure a return beam of light, possible only if man had actually gone up there and put those retro-reflectors in place.
@SmallSpoonBrigade
10 күн бұрын
Obviously, the reason for that is accurately measuring the distance to the Moon, but it does serve as arguably the most reliable evidence that people were up there. It's just unfortunate that the reflector is so small that it can't be seen on Earth by amateurs.
@danielwatson5595
10 күн бұрын
Not to say humans didn’t go to the moon, but those retroreflectors could have been sent and left to sit without any human taking the trip with them. Just as we have done with other equipment on the moon and mars. Those retroreflectors unfortunately do not at all prove humans were on the surface of the moon with them.
@igotes
10 күн бұрын
I hope the next humans to land on the moon place huge reflectors in the shape of the letters C H A.
@tomsixsix
10 күн бұрын
@@danielwatson5595 True, but we didn't have robotic space vehicles in the 60's when the moon landings happened. The first Mars rover landed in 1997, and the first 'probe' of any kind was 1976, but that wouldn't have been able to bring something the size of the retroreflectors with it.
@ColonelSandersLite
10 күн бұрын
"The ultimate moon landing hoax conspiracy theory debunker is the ability to shoot a laser at the moon and record how much of that laser comes back..." That really isn't a good debunker in any way. Play devil's advocate. Entertain the idea that the hoaxers are right. In this case - The only people that have the equipment to do this form of testing are exactly the people with a motive to fix the result. They could just be using a smoke and mirror machine that spits out exactly their expected answer. This isn't any different than one of those perpetual motion or cold fusion orgs that will only provide data from their own measuring equipment. If we actually know they're honest, it's good info. If we're skeptical, we need outside tangible verification. There is *MUCH* better evidence than the retroreflectors.
@andrewfidel2220
10 күн бұрын
The other important point of ditching the bulbs other than resource and money savings is it reduces the amount of light pollution our cities create.
@RoadGuyRob
10 күн бұрын
In fairness, that's pretty low in California's priority list (considering how many people live here). Even Palm Springs, where I was filming, struggles to have dark skies simply because the city nearby is so bright at night. But yes, retroreflectivity is a fantastic tool for the "dark skies" movement.
@mouseTN
3 күн бұрын
You should head down to Escondido. There are dark sky ordinances in place such as zero cut-off street lights and high pressure sodium lamps, due to the huge observatory just north of there at Palomar Mountain.
@gali01992
10 күн бұрын
60 years ago when I was a kid growing up in California, I remember the cat's eyes in the signs. They didn't work very well, but I could see them with very little problem. My 40-year old mother, on the other hand, could hardly see them at all. So since I was the oldest in the family, I was given the front seat and tasked with reading the road signs to her on long trips (such as San Jose to Los Angeles) where she wasn't familiar with the road. After a few trips, I graduated to Navigator and, armed with a road map and enough sugared road snacks to keep a rock awake, told her where to turn to get us there (just call me Garmin :). Today at 68, I can still see the road signs very well thanks to the road sign technology, and have no problems with my road trips between Phoenix and Boston.
@shiniesglitters5424
10 күн бұрын
The material we use to make signs in our shop is the 3M DG Cubed prismatic retro-reflective sheeting. It is on a whole level of its own compared to all the avery sheeting, and even the other 3M sheeting, and the SF price isnt super bad at about $2 per SF currently when bought in 48"x50YD rolls. A 10 year old sign with the 3M DG3 sheeting is brighter than brand new signs made with Avery sheeting. The opportunity cost though is the 3M sheeting is SUPER hard to cut compared to the Avery, we have to use a special hot tip machine that uses a carbide tip at just under 1,000F and about 450grams of force to cut the 3M sheeting and it can only cut at about 5 mm/s
@LFTRnow
10 күн бұрын
BTW, there's a retroreflector on the moon which we put there decades ago. You can't see it with most standard telescopes, but this is how distance to the moon is now measured very accurately. Bounce laser pulses from a high-power laser, then check for relections and time between them.
@Nicoder6884
4 күн бұрын
The retroreflector is also my favorite argument to use against moon landing deniers
@dippitydoree7877
11 күн бұрын
Yiour videos are fantastic! Such an engaging way to present a seemingly mundane topic. Thanks for sharing man. Stay great!
@GamingBren
10 күн бұрын
i love em too
@RoadGuyRob
10 күн бұрын
Thank you so much! This particular video has sort of dragged along in the background since 2022. Big thanks to Ken!
@IamAllanC
10 күн бұрын
Rob is the retro-reflective spot in my day.
@PaulFisher
10 күн бұрын
The white stripes on his high-visibility vest are a perfect example of retro-reflection!
@RoadGuyRob
10 күн бұрын
Retro-thanks (thanks bounced back to you), Allan!
@galaxyanimal
9 күн бұрын
@@PaulFisher Yeah, you can see really well at 4:45 that he's wearing, I believe, an ANSI/ISEA 107 class 3 vest. Where I work (as a flagger), they make us wear a class 2 vest with class E pants or gaiters, which makes the overall outfit a class 3.
@coastofkonkan
10 күн бұрын
Rob shed light on a topic that most drivers were in the dark.
@antoniusbaswara8477
2 күн бұрын
Brilliant.
@peterbaruxis2511
9 сағат бұрын
@@antoniusbaswara8477 👍💡
@heronimousbrapson863
10 күн бұрын
On country roads in Alberta, Canada, stop signs are frequently accompanied by a flashing, battery-powered red beacon, which is recharged in the daylight hours from a small solar panel.
@RoadGuyRob
10 күн бұрын
I saw quite a few of those on the rural roads near Palm Springs, California where I filmed this video. I purposely avoided filming them to keep the storyline simple. But they are a big help at night, aren't they?
@galaxyanimal
9 күн бұрын
In my area, stop signs either have red LEDs along the border of the stop sign or a traffic light style beacon (sometimes accompanied by a flashing yellow beacon on the main road).
@markpfeifer1402
10 күн бұрын
I learned something today. Thanks, Rob.
@RoadGuyRob
10 күн бұрын
You're welcome, Mark!
@mattcintosh2
8 күн бұрын
There are times when the retroreflective signs dont work at night. Condensation on the sign. I see it sometimes in my area where the signs are barely readable. Took me awhile to figure out why.
@amicaaranearum
8 күн бұрын
It doesn’t just save energy. It also reduces light pollution. When driving at night in the rain, I almost _prefer_ an unlit intersection, because when the road is wet, any street lights reflect off of the road surface, obscuring lane markings.
@feldamar2
10 күн бұрын
The BEST infrastructure is the stuff you don't notice cause it just does it's job. Like the classic saying "a servant is seen but unheard." A good bridge, sign, pipe, wire, pump, whatever is best doing it's job when no one notices. And road signs are just...there, yeah?
@socool775
10 күн бұрын
“One of the losers in terms of technology are these old-school backlit street signs”. I invite you to Michigan, my friend. We simply MUST have backlit “only”, “one-way”, “no left turn”, etc signs in traffic signal setups.
@SmallSpoonBrigade
10 күн бұрын
I think that it's funny that California has them, but I'm a few hours from the Canadian border where we get over 16 hours worth of darkness during the night, and we have never had lit signs like that. Or at least not in the decades that I've been living here. If folks know where to look, those lighted street signs can probably be bought when they're taken out of service. Around here, you can buy used street signs to hang in your room if you want to as a way of recouping some of the cost of the signs.
@gali01992
10 күн бұрын
In Tempe, AZ, all the road name signs on the major roads are backlit in fancy sign holders.
@RoadGuyRob
10 күн бұрын
I need to come to Michigan for a variety of reasons. Is there any particular month that isn't freezing and/or skeeter bites (they love to get me!)?
@socool775
9 күн бұрын
@@RoadGuyRob I gotta tell ya, my motto is “you can always layer up, but you can’t always layer down”… I love the cold and snow. But to answer your question, usually the autumn and spring months (September/October, and March/April) are pretty neutral in the temperature and mosquito departments.
@Mushkthx
10 күн бұрын
Personally as someone who drives for a living, I would like to see overhead highway signs with a green Engineer Grade background with either HIP or Diamond Grade high reflective type lettering. Here they use High Intensity Prismatic grades for both the background and the lettering, and the visibility is awful.
@eaterdrinker000
10 күн бұрын
I agree. I also prefer the high contrast between the old glass dots and the non-reflective green background. The "newer" fully reflective signs are illegible when exposed to any significant bright light. I started noticing this while driving on the New York State Thruway (I-87) in the mid-2000s, almost twenty years ago. I don't travel that highway very much anymore.
@RoadGuyRob
10 күн бұрын
That's an interesting point. I actually don't mind the whole "text floating in space" look... as long as I can read the text!
@PrograError
9 күн бұрын
@@RoadGuyRob as long as it shows a border... i'm good with the text floating in space... it's like a hologram.
@Mushkthx
9 күн бұрын
@PrograError that's how the signs are in Canadian national parks. They use a non reflective dark green paint or vinyl with Diamond Grade. Sometimes the lettering and bordering falls off because the paint doesn't allow it to stick very well 😂
@Mushkthx
9 күн бұрын
@RoadGuyRob in theory, the higher contrast would make visibility much better. Make the lettering a bit thinner so it looks more like letters and not a bright blob as you drive up. I feel like California should update their ancient freeway signs with this, and use Clearview font for extra visibility (and potential controversy among motorists and sign geeks alike).
@BradHouser
10 күн бұрын
I drove on I-80 from PA to Wyoming several times in the early 70's and I recall very few retro-reflective signs along the way. They stood out and were colorful, which helped break the monotony of driving across Nebraska at night.
@jonahansen
10 күн бұрын
What a great story about innovation in an engineering approach setting (by engineering approach I mean a system where problems are iteratively tracked downed, diagnosed, and solved towards an end goal).
@VanadiumBromide
11 күн бұрын
Thank Mr Road Guy Rob.
@RoadGuyRob
10 күн бұрын
You're welcome, Mr. Vandium Bromide.
@Sirmenonottwo
10 күн бұрын
If you shine a laser pointer on a stop sign the entire things glows very brightly!
@ayoCC
11 күн бұрын
I love Mr. Rob Road!
@RoadGuyRob
10 күн бұрын
Love ya too, buddy!
@VJGamz
7 күн бұрын
Most countries in North America have the same signs as the USA and they’re all reflective. They’re not the aame in Europe but they’re reflective.
@76844
10 күн бұрын
This is enlightening Rob, great one.
@johnleo2668
10 күн бұрын
Badumtiss
@RoadGuyRob
10 күн бұрын
I'm *beaming* with pride! Thank you
@Irishfan
10 күн бұрын
Back in the 60s and early 70s, Michigan had a maximum speed limit of 65 by day and 55 at night. They had signs that displayed the 65 speed limit, but at night, when the headlights hit it, it displayed 55. I used to sit in the back seat and watch the sign as we went by and see it change back to 65 as the headlights were no longer affecting it.
@RoadGuyRob
10 күн бұрын
That's really clever! Another commenter mentioned something similar Florida DOT does/did on US-1 along the Keys.
@imjody
6 күн бұрын
This was cool. Thanks for sharing with us! :)
@txquartz
10 күн бұрын
I was in Taiwan recently, and in some areas, rather than lighting the sign, they trace the signs in LEDs, looking rather like your thumbnail's sign but via different tech.
@CentralStateHyan
9 күн бұрын
There are still some signs out there in multiple states that have both sheeting AND button copy installed, which makes the letter outlines dark but with small reflective points throughout the middle of each character. It's a nice look tbh.
@ckennylin717
10 күн бұрын
Isn't this a problem now with LED headlights as the LED beam isn't as diffuse and less or even no light hits road or overhead signs anymore? I also noticed that LED headlight beams don't reflect as much as incandescent when aimed at car / bike reflectors.
@Br3ttM
10 күн бұрын
That's a matter of design of headlight. You can point an LED at a curved reflective surface if you want it to spread out. Some lights do intentionally limit how much light goes up, so they don't blind other drivers, but hills complicate that.
@Kyusoath
10 күн бұрын
i was shocked to find out they don't have streetlighting in america, i was driving a major road in florida and it was a real shock to find the only lighting was from headlights.
@warrior_cat
10 күн бұрын
It depends substantially on where you are, as is the case with most other things in America. Even the same highway can go from well-lit to totally dark in just a few miles.
@SmallSpoonBrigade
10 күн бұрын
@@warrior_cat Yes, around here we have so many streetlights that it can be hard to know if your headlights are turned on. I usually have to look at the signs to verify that the lights are on and that it's not just the indicator that's lit. But, when I get outside the city limits, some of those more rural roads have hardly any streetlights at all. It makes me really appreciate my wife's automatic headlights that activate and deactivate the high beams based on whether it's dark and whether there are other cars in range. Allows me to get full use of the high beams without blinding other drivers.
@igotes
10 күн бұрын
It depends on the location of the road really. I'm from the UK which is a tiny place, most of the highways here are only lit around big interchanges or near towns and cities.
@RoadGuyRob
10 күн бұрын
I suspect the sheer magnitude of our suburbs and rural highway network makes fully illuminating everything very cost-prohibitive. Downtowns (good ones) are well lit at night.
@PrograError
9 күн бұрын
well it really depends on the size of the country and where ya at, Rural v Urban, large country v small country. tho one benefit of that is the light pollution. You can see the Milky Way... the urbanites can never see that, not unless they go miles outside the city limits...
@ZetaPyro
10 күн бұрын
I've always been impressed how even my dinky little bike lights can light up road signs when riding at night
@TheWacoKid1963
6 күн бұрын
Modern? FFS signs in the UK have been like that for 4 or 5 decades
@blotski
2 күн бұрын
Watching from the UK - you randomly popped up in my recommendations. Fascinating video. The 'retroreflectorization' technology is, of course, the same across Europe but I read a report recently from Finland that there is some concern that modern LED and Xenon headlights may not be 'lighting up' the signs so well as the older lights. This is because they can easily dazzle oncoming cars unless they are very precisely directed down and also little light escapes from the beam pattern meaning less light actually falls on the sign. Can't say I've actually noticed it myself. Also your reference to 'cat eyes' made me sit up. In the UK we have a well developed system of 'cat's eyes' on our motorways (🇺🇸 highways) with white ones dividing the lanes, red ones at the edge of the road (the left for us) and amber ones near the central reservation (the right for us). Also we have green ones denoting lines that can be crossed like on slip roads (🇺🇸 = ramps). We do have them on some other roads as well.
@wyaldkingdom
10 күн бұрын
This was absolutely fascinating. A lot of engineering went into something that most people take for granted. So cool!😎
@jamesrea329
10 күн бұрын
It’s amazed me for a long time that I could see the reflection of my turn signal in a road sign hundreds of feet away. I had a little bit of understanding of how that was done but now thanks to you, I really understand it completely. This is your best video yet!
@RoadGuyRob
10 күн бұрын
You're welcome, James. Glad to hear it!
@galaxyanimal
9 күн бұрын
Turn signals also tend to show up really well on far away road signs even though they're dimmer than headlights since they're angled upwards to be visible to other drivers, rather than downwards to not blind them.
@jamesrea329
9 күн бұрын
@@galaxyanimal Oh, that makes sense, really interesting. I had noticed that the turn signals were very prominent on the reflection. It's a good thing we can only see our own turn signals because otherwise it would be a cacophony of blinking signs!
@ScottWallace5
10 күн бұрын
Very interesting deep dive! Well done! Another interesting future video idea (if not done before), is how the road signs font has changed over the years.
@RoadGuyRob
10 күн бұрын
As far as I can tell, there really have been only 3 in the United States. An original font that evolved into the Highway Gothic we use now. And a copyrighted experimental font called Clearview that has mixed opinions. But yes, I do want to do a story on that. I'm just not sure who to interview, since I'm pretty sure the authors of the Highway Gothic font have long passed on.
@amicaaranearum
8 күн бұрын
@@RoadGuyRob The Clearview designers might be willing to do an interview.
@jessedunn3766
10 күн бұрын
Honestly with today's headlight brightness, they're TOO reflective. Especially with high beams. I usually can't even turn them on with signs ahead.
@jayziac
8 күн бұрын
Thanks for the interesting video. I use retroreflective tape on my bicycle wheel rims & cranks, the moving motion reflected back to drivers catches their attention quicker, especially in the peripherals. Another bit of science to help cyclists stay safe at night.
@jasonbrindamour903
5 күн бұрын
I have a theory that flashing lights actually attract sleepy drivers. It explains why so many cop cars can get hit in the middle of nowhere...it's not just chance.
@lonestranger
4 күн бұрын
@11:25-12:00 I must've been living in the future for the last 40+ years in British Columbia, because I've never seen self-lit highway signs here. They (and the road line paint) has been retroreflective for as long as I can remember. Honestly, this video's title "Why modern ROAD SIGNS don't need LIGHTS anymore" confused me a bit.
@NipkowDisk
10 күн бұрын
Red wasn't mandatory for STOP signs until 1954 also because the red pigments of the time faded rapidly. So, they were yellow with black lettering until then.
@galaxyanimal
9 күн бұрын
YIELD signs were also originally yellow.
@NipkowDisk
9 күн бұрын
@@galaxyanimal Indeed. IIRC the YIELD sign also came about in 1954, and was changed in 1971 to the red/white style that we see today.
@hahaha9076
9 күн бұрын
Well, here in Australia today, the signs are way too reflective. The light reflects back onto the windscreen and blinds you. Dial it back Wally's.
@ThePizzabrothersGaming
7 күн бұрын
The stop sign is so important, the US copy pastes it everywhere they can't bother making good intersections, and most of Europe ditches them as much as possible!
@derksforeal7960
10 күн бұрын
Rob in my neighborhood? Let’s go
@RoadGuyRob
10 күн бұрын
I live right around the corner. Well, 40 minutes around the corner.
@vex-nh
8 күн бұрын
They may have overdone it a bit. I notice that with vehicles that have newer LED headlights, the high beams cause the signs to blast so much light back that they're unreadable.
@RealCadde
9 күн бұрын
You know what's even better than retro reflective and lighted signs? Background lit signs. Where the light passes through the graphical element which gives perfect clarity regardless of if your headlights hit the sign or not. An LCD monitor is a backlit sign that can also change its contents on the fly. Where i live, we have a few signs like that which adjust based on current state of traffic. Even single point LED signs (less resolution) work wonders.
@RealCadde
9 күн бұрын
Also, we've had ONLY retroreflective signs before technology advanced. Not a single "just painted" sign anywhere. At least not official signs. It's codified into law, every sign NO MATTER it's purpose is retro reflective here. Except the backlit ones with or without dynamic content.
@galaxyanimal
9 күн бұрын
@@RealCadde Backlighting technology actually existed BEFORE retroreflectors. All you need is a translucent sign with lights behind it.
@IanZainea1990
4 күн бұрын
11:53 also, no light pollution. If it's not needed it's not lit up... Because there's no car there to light it
@danteeightsix9069
10 күн бұрын
I would assume drivers would speed up to beat the yellow stop sign.
@matthewb840
10 күн бұрын
It’s always a good day when road guy rob uploads
@KevinW-px8is
7 күн бұрын
Let me ask you this, how much of your cars high beam headlights do you really want to be reflected directly back into your eyes? I live in a rural area where when driving at night what you are trying to see are the not very reflective animals, like moose, bear, deer, raccoon, skunk, the occasional cow and many others. To try to avoid these hazards I use my high beams as much as possible and even dim the instrument cluster to aid my night vision. Since they started to replace all the signs with new ones that have this much reflectivity, in some cases it makes the roads less safe. I can understand stop signs being that reflective, you need to see it with enough time to stop, but many other signs I don't need to be able to see from so far away. And it gets even worse when there is a group of signs placed near each other. If I leave my high beams on approaching some of the bigger signs or groups of signs, it is hard to see anything at all beyond the signs and once passed and back into darkness, your night vision takes some time to recover.
@ronk9830
5 күн бұрын
I have the same problem, and find the excessive reflection distracting, and like you said, hard to recover from after the signs are gone. I avoid driving at night now. It's a good excuse sometimes...😀
@kenofken9458
4 күн бұрын
When you need to use the high beams at all times, that's a sign that your days of night driving are drawing to an end.
@KevinW-px8is
3 күн бұрын
@@kenofken9458 Yeah why do they put high beam headlights on cars? I would suggest that if you are driving at night and not using your high beams when there is no reason not to, maybe you shouldn't be driving yet. But it is not really the point, even on low beam some of these signs are very bright, and anything that reduces how far you can see in areas with lots of wildlife makes it more dangerous. Even without these signs as a factor people hit animals or other hazards on the road all the time.
@kenofken9458
3 күн бұрын
@@KevinW-px8is The only place high beams are any use at all to people with functional night vision is on truly dark country roads which will have next to nothing in the way of signage. If it's deer season, your only safe option is to slow down.
@KevinW-px8is
Күн бұрын
@@kenofken9458 Do you even read what you are responding to? As I said in my first post I live in a very rural area that is very dark and the roads have plenty of signs especially the yellow ones that I find the most offensive. They are used to warn of curves and other such hazards of which there are many on the roads I drive on, and on these types of roads the signs are generally closer to the road (shoulder mounted) than in other locations. I don't know where you get your ideas, but high beams aren't used to help you see better at night but to see farther, giving you more time to react to roadway hazards. I have no idea what you mean by deer season, and our deer seem unaware of it as well, and will run out in front of you year round. Texas A&M University did a study of the effect of road sign reflectivity (that didn't even use the worst offending yellow signs) and in its conclusion found that: Based on the findings from this study, there is evidence that shoulder-mounted signs can be too bright in rural areas with low or no visual complexity. While there was no measured reduction in legibility, there was a large reduction in the overall ability to detect potentially hazardous objects near the roadway. In other words, the detection distances were shorter when signs were within 200 ft of the targets. More specifically, the average detection distance of the three objects with no sign was 371 ft. When there was a sign with Type III material, the detection distance decreased to about 302 ft. When the sign sheeting was Type XI material, the detection distance decreased even more to 258 ft.
@maxmyzer9172
10 күн бұрын
I LOVE RETROREFLECTORS
@bills6093
7 күн бұрын
With modern blazing white blinding headlights, nothing needs to light up any more.
@whoever6458
10 күн бұрын
When I was a kid, I literally stole a sign because I wanted to look at the reflective stuff on it.
@hadrast
10 күн бұрын
There's a big pitfall with these retroreflective designs: they don't work if your headlights can't reach them. I drive in a city, and I've seen too many instances of signs mounted at traffic light height or higher, rendering them useless because the road leading up to them is too curved or too close to a preceding intersection for smaller cars' headlights to illuminate properly. Not all of us drive suburbatanks.
@Br3ttM
10 күн бұрын
It doesn't matter how big your car is, it's how bright your lights are, the distribution of the light they put out, and how wide the angle is between your lights and your eyes, from the point of the sign. Your headlights are probably either dimmer, or don't put out much light outside of the main beam.
@galaxyanimal
9 күн бұрын
@@Br3ttM Regular low-beam headlighs are angled downwards so as not to blind oncoming traffic, which means they don't really cast all that much light upwards (high beams do, but they're not great in town).
@Br3ttM
9 күн бұрын
@@galaxyanimal The degree to which they do that varies between vehicles, though. Some have a much sharper cutoff.
@pleappleappleap
10 күн бұрын
Lumens might not be the best measure to compare a light to the Sun. Candela might work better.
@toyorobo
4 күн бұрын
This is actually a really great video! Thank you, I learned a lot.
@brandongaines1731
10 күн бұрын
9:27 if my calculations are correct, then that means that one of those little cube thingies is at minimum 1/2 of a 10,000th of an inch on each side! 🤯
@AndrewTyberg
6 күн бұрын
No, it would be 1/200th of an inch.
@brandongaines1731
6 күн бұрын
@@AndrewTyberg ok thanks!
@HFVidShotz
10 күн бұрын
Thank you. Very informative and detailed info. Now, when I see a road sign, you will be on my mind.
@RoadGuyRob
10 күн бұрын
Glad to hear! You're welcome. The funny part about researching these stories is that whatever topic I'm working on, I begin to notice as well while I'm driving.
@robbmanchester5747
8 күн бұрын
I remember in AZ signs that would show one speed limit in day and another speed at night
@markvogel5872
10 күн бұрын
This is so interesting.
@2112user
6 күн бұрын
Works great, until that sign is covered in snow. Reminds me of the first LED stop lights, everyone was impressed till that first winter. Then, the lack of heat from a standard bulb showed the designers up. The old school ways are sometimes better. For example, old school stop light vs. LED with a heater. New draws more power. So they added electronics and wire to make the heater automated, factoring in all the extras, they are the same. Factoring in the fact you don't know the heaters broke till it doesn't work and a guy has to change it during winter, which takes longer than a light bulb swap.... New isn't always better. TLDR: Every new invention is great till its flaws are reveled.
@perlasandoval7883
4 күн бұрын
unless you leave the sign on it's own in winter, which does not happen on a freeway at least, it won't cause much accident, and it's not like the signs let a lot of snow to stick to them since they are perpendicular and rarely angled upwards. And the LED lights themselves have two solutions to the problem, a hood covering the side and head to reduce the amount of snow having physical contact with the lights, or the more modern heaters which are actually eating less energy than the older incandescent lights even when combined with the LED.
@anthonywashington2885
10 күн бұрын
Wow, I didn’t even know how advanced that technology was.
@SmallSpoonBrigade
10 күн бұрын
And if they've done their job properly, people shouldn't. This is one of those cases where sufficiently advanced technology just looks like magic.
@RoadGuyRob
10 күн бұрын
I watched another KZitem video today (Practical Engineering?) about tire tread technology. And similarly, I feel stunned at how something so simple can become so advanced and technical.
@nunyabiness181
10 күн бұрын
What kind of oatmeal did you have for breakfast, Rob?
@angelamorley9921
10 күн бұрын
Ansi class 3 vest FINALLY. Thank you!
@RoadGuyRob
10 күн бұрын
I'm slowly phasing it in, depending on when I shot the raw material for the video (some are still pre-new vest). I almost got hit by a car while I was filming in the dark with my old vest (my fault). Thankfully the driver saw me at the last minute. I decided if I'm going to stand near the street, I better wear the proper safety equipment (PPE).
@PrograError
9 күн бұрын
@@RoadGuyRob maybe you can do some mythbusting with the different PPE designs, some from overseas, some with local US standards… like to see if the standards make much sense... vest vs suit. Painted vs retroreflective. sounds like a perfect PSA video too...
@galaxyanimal
9 күн бұрын
I think it's actually a class 3 vest, since it's got retroreflective stripes on the sleeves. I have to wear a class 2 vest for work, but they make us wear class E pants/gaiters so the whole outfit is class 3 as well.
@angelamorley9921
9 күн бұрын
@@galaxyanimal actually you're right. I missed the sleeves. Nice catch! I kept commenting on his previous videos hoping he would finally get a better vest, happy he has now!
@buizelmeme6288
10 күн бұрын
I can't fucking believe that a fking corporation did all of this!
@71spazz
6 күн бұрын
When I was growing up we had concrete roads that had yellow lines and they were reflective so we could see them now we have black roads and they're putting the white lines which apparently it's just a sticker and there's no reflection. On roads like the 60 freeway their concrete roads and they put these white lines on there so you cannot see them at all during the day or night. Yellow shows up on both the best and spend the extra money and put the reflective material back inside the paint I used to watch them put on why it was drying. And this is just a little off but in the carpool lanes they went through on like the 22 freeway they redid the road and they made it black they put the warnings but then they pressure washed them off which left nasty indents that are falling apart only to move 5 ft away. Install no reflective.
@jeffkardosjr.3825
5 күн бұрын
That plastic can cause slip in rain and snow.
@Ayrshore
9 күн бұрын
Welcome to the 1960s. Yours sincerely, the UK.
@SheriKeenan
10 күн бұрын
Can you do a video on how they don’t but should plant native plants and trees on the dirt sides of off ramps. Or how when they do it’s almost always none native way to close to the road lots of water used. Like native plants and trees if water required water 3 to 4 times a year so every 3 to 4 months water in the morning don’t over do it water 5 minutes stop for 30 minutes water again for 10 minutes done. Also mulch in there before planting all the seeds yes seeds as they adapt better and can grow faster too and don’t go clearing out the dead branches on the ground let it become mulch let the mini off ramp forest be wild yes trim anything that gets to close to the road but don’t maintain anything on the inside as the more you cut the more dangerous the trees becomes.
@RoadGuyRob
10 күн бұрын
Great topic. Will have to see if I cross paths with both a willing State DOT or city -- and an ecology person. It's a neat topic idea!
@schtormm
9 күн бұрын
7:44 Didn't expect a Dutch road sign to just be hanging there in their HQ
@jrgold4666
10 күн бұрын
Hi Bob, thank you for your videos. They all are informative and great.
@opinionrat
9 күн бұрын
Text floating in space sounds AWESOME! 😱
@JJAB91
10 күн бұрын
I wish we could just give the windshields on cars HUDs.
@gali01992
10 күн бұрын
My 2020 Chevy pickup has an HUD on the windshield. It tells me my speed, the current speed limit, how far back I am from the car ahead, and GPS alerts telling me which lane to be in for an upcoming intersection. There's more that it can display but I like to keep the HUD simple and leave the stuff I don't need to look at a lot down on the regular display with the gauges.
@JJAB91
10 күн бұрын
@@gali01992 But now imagine if every car had a HUD, it could display signs and traffic lights as well. To the point where we wouldn't even need physical road signs or lights anymore.
@justinfowler2857
6 күн бұрын
I really miss lighted road signs.
@JamesTK
9 күн бұрын
Instructions unclear looked into laser
@SkipFlem
7 күн бұрын
i noticed that one of the pair of 500' radio towers near by don't need lights any more, too.
@jeffkardosjr.3825
5 күн бұрын
In the US they do need them. They're probably not keeping up with maintenance.
@IRNoahBody
10 күн бұрын
3M is a pretty amazing company if you're an engineer. you have access to ALL their equipment and can R&D whatever you want, just gotta give 3M the main share while you take royalties...
@TheCloakedTiger
10 күн бұрын
Honestly, I love the button copy signs a lot more than what we have today. They just look cooler. :)
@RoadGuyRob
10 күн бұрын
I grew nostalgic, because most of them disappeared by the time I was in high school (in Salt Lake City, Utah). Button copy remind me of vacations to California (where I live now), where the older signs are still plentiful out on the road (maybe 30% of freeway signs in some counties).
@CubeAtlantic
10 күн бұрын
i think they still have those road signs w/lights where my parents live in Florida, I don't notice them too much.
@CreachterZ
10 күн бұрын
Those backlit street signs are important to walkers and bike riders.
@RoadGuyRob
10 күн бұрын
Maybe it warrants a future video...
@bobblum5973
9 сағат бұрын
Six retroreflectors were left at six sites on the Moon, by three crews of the Apollo program, two by remote landers of the Lunokhod program, and one by the Chandrayaan program.
@Jeroen_a
10 күн бұрын
I like your enthusiasm. keep it going!
@RoadGuyRob
10 күн бұрын
Will do!
@1906Farnsworth
2 сағат бұрын
Is the reflective suffice customized for signs that are higher up? Seems like those would need to direct the reflected light differently.
@dchawk81
13 сағат бұрын
2:39 Amazon says my cheap aftermarket headlights are 435,000 lumens. 🤷
@ejrich7016
10 күн бұрын
Yes! I love waking up in the morning and seeing that Rob has posted a new video - then I know I'm about to learn something new. Thanks Rob!
@stlmtndew2654
4 күн бұрын
Amazing video
@brainstem2023
10 күн бұрын
I'm curious how well this product works. Rust-Oleum 214944 Specialty Reflective Spray, Semi Transparent Clear Finish, 10oz Supposedly it's ideal for driveway markers, mailboxes, light posts, fences, camping gear, bumpers, trailers, bikes and bike helmets.
@CorbinWilliams
2 күн бұрын
If you drive the 101, 405, 134, 110 etc at night, you’ll notice most signs are completely pitch black with no operative lighting. I’ve been reporting hundreds of signs to caltrans to be repaired. 98% of the signs and lights on our freeway are inoperative despite paying the highest registration prices in history.
@j7ndominica051
2 күн бұрын
I only recently discovered how many reflective signs there are not just on roads but on vehicles and people's bags. If I play with a mirror, they light up like the sun itself. But people in a different direction don't see my prank.
@bighammer3464
10 күн бұрын
2:35 the sun’s lumen output pales in comparison to those high lumen flashlights on Amazon. And they are rechargeable too.
@TheBroadcastEngineer
10 күн бұрын
This was awesome! Thank you!!
@RoadGuyRob
10 күн бұрын
You're welcome.
@JakeGemzen
10 күн бұрын
You turned a boring topic into an interesting video. Well done! I learned something new as well!
@AraCarrano
9 күн бұрын
Anything to reduce peoples civil infractions of using High/Full beams with oncoming traffic, pedestrians on side walks. Or both because they think that one failed Low beam bulb gives them permission to use High/full beams all the time through UV damaged frosted over plastic headlight covers. Then combined with aftermarket HID/LED installed in reflector assemblies vs. proper culminated projector assemblies, we end up with burned retinas.
@HelloKamesan
Күн бұрын
Found out the other day that there's actually more to this story than retroreflectivity. You touched on it a bit with the distance between the height of the driver and the height of the headlight and how that angle is more pronounced for truck drivers, but that's also one reason why some states tilt the signs down a tad to reduce the angle that the return light has to travel from the sign. Depending on the height of the sign (and how tall the sign itself is), they might still be needing to light the sign because of that angle. That's doubly true for those larger "arrow-per-lane" signs along freeways/expressways.
@lt1caprice57l
10 күн бұрын
They still need lights (and button copy) for the ✨ A E S T H E T I C ✨ Seriously, not everything has to be 100% efficient. They're making the world so boring in the pursuit of it and I'm so sick of that.
@robert5
6 күн бұрын
I am trying to do this on my large mail box. Not really working like I want. Also... why don't they make house siding reflective? Seems it would be great to keep the house cooler. Now with the paint, it is just absorbing the rays and thus the energy and causing my AC bill to skyrocket.
@duthegee
3 күн бұрын
These hidden technologies are lifesavers! Driving in many poorer countries with their impossible to see Stop/Alto/Pare signs at night really made me appreciate what we take for granted.
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