This actually got me into a car accident as a young driver.
I had just gotten on the highway heading home, rural towns. The gas gauge was broken so I had to count miles on the odometer to know when I was low, and I realized at that moment that I was desperately in need of gas.
So I took the first exit, and started looking for a gas station. I’m driving the speed limit, 55mph, and coming around a very large slowly sweeping curve I see what looks like a gas station up ahead on the left. There are no other businesses on the road. It had a tall sign out front.
I didn’t recognize the sign, I was trying to read what it said, to see if it was a gas station or not. But I couldn’t read it. I was struggling to make sense of what I was seeing, honestly. A Martin Glass? An olive? I don’t remember all the things on it. But the point is, it was items, party items, that spelled out the word… party? It was a party store… and then I hit the guy in front of me who was stopped dead in the middle of the road waiting to turn left into a driveway.
I was so distracted trying to read that stupid sign, I didn’t even see him until the last second. I had time to swerve a bit, and I locked the brakes. I ended up hitting his back right bumper and crushing it in, a glancing blow that didn’t even touch his trunk. Just the bumper. He drove away no problem.
My car was a different story, it tore my lower control arm and snapped my tie-rod. Took out the front left quarter panel, hood, bumper, and headlight too. I had to get towed home, like 2 hours.
Technically my fault, and I got the ticket. But dang it if to this day, I don’t still blame that stupid sign. The Martini glass was the Y, I think the olive was the A? I don’t remember, I should try finding it again.
Somewhere there probably is a graphic designer or city planner who can use this story, lol. Billboards and these huge signs are distracting things to have on the road.
This actually got me into a car accident as a young driver.
I had just gotten on the highway heading home, rural towns. The gas gauge was broken so I had to count miles on the odometer to know when I was low, and I realized at that moment that I was desperately in need of gas.
So I took the first exit, and started looking for a gas station. I’m driving the speed limit, 55mph, and coming around a very large slowly sweeping curve I see what looks like a gas station up ahead on the left. There are no other businesses on the road. It had a tall sign out front. I didn’t recognize the sign, I was trying to read what it said, to see if it was a gas station or not. But I couldn’t read it. I was struggling to make sense of what I was seeing, honestly. A Martin Glass? An olive? I don’t remember all the things on it. But the point is, it was items, party items, that spelled out the word… party? It was a party store… and then I hit the guy in front of me who was stopped dead in the middle of the road waiting to turn left into a driveway.
I was so distracted trying to read that stupid sign, I didn’t even see him until the last second. I had time to swerve a bit, and I locked the brakes. I ended up hitting his back right bumper and crushing it in, a glancing blow that didn’t even touch his trunk. Just the bumper. He drove away no problem.
My car was a different story, it tore my lower control arm and snapped my tie-rod. Took out the front left quarter panel, hood, bumper, and headlight too. I had to get towed home, like 2 hours.
Technically my fault, and I got the ticket. But dang it if to this day, I don’t still blame that stupid sign. The Martini glass was the Y, I think the olive was the A? I don’t remember, I should try finding it again.
Somewhere there probably is a graphic designer or city planner who can use this story, lol. Billboards and these huge signs are distracting things to have on the road.
The worse is the electronic billboards that change every 15 seconds or so.