8 responses to “Floppy Signs: Visual clutter”

1. Joe

   August 31, 2026

   Right on schedule, the DJ has a piece on traffic safety:

   Burlingame City Council passes Vision Zero plan to eliminate traffic death by 2040

   That includes the potential for reducing speed on California Drive from Burlingame Avenue to Broadway to 15 mph and from Broadway to Murchison Drive to 25 mph. Reducing speed on Broadway from Balboa Avenue to Vancouver Avenue from 20 to 15 mph was also up for consideration.
   —————————–
   15 mph on California sounds like a ticketers dream. I’m all for increased ticketing, but 15 mph? Isn’t California Dr. already bad enough with the senseless loss of a lane? And what about police, fire and EMTS?
   —————————–
   Giving out tickets for drivers going over the speed limit is only one part of the equation, Mayor Michael Brownrigg said. He emphasized the city’s plan to reduce driver speeds would only work with resident buy-in and an educational campaign.

   “If we’re serious about lowering speeds and not just relying on the police to give tickets, which we all know won’t work … we have to do an outreach campaign that says ‘this is a priority to us to slow cars down,’” he said.
   ——————————
   “We all know” no such thing. And how exactly do we run an educational campaign for all of the non-B’game drivers?

2. JP

   August 31, 2026

   I’m glad Brownrigg is retiring. He is passed his shelf life and everything is politician gobbledygook about buy in and education and doing things by 2040. It’s a bit sad actually.

3. Grace

   August 31, 2026

   Thank you for this post. I’ve shared my concern with the council about “sign pollution” on more than a few occasions. Having worked with traffic engineers on developments, I learned that more is not always better. In addition to the confusion you mention above, too many stop signs and ridiculously slow streets agitate aggressive drivers and give pedestrians a false sense of security. I also suggested that they teach school kids to make eye contact with drivers before crossing the street, even if there is a stop sign; but they have not done anything about it. The City is painting curbs red for daylighting right now but as I told Brownrigg, it does no go if landscaping blocks drivers’ visibility at corners and identified a few that are heavily used by kids on the way to school. But as he told me, he has to live here and does not want his neighbors to get mad at him. So unfortunately, I think this is more about getting people out of cars to virtue signal their concern for climate change and sea level rise rather than saving lives.

4. Judy Diamond

   August 31, 2026

   The landscaping is a huge problem. Why are homeowners landscapes public property??? and the other half of homeowners think rocks are the new lawn. I digress And all the signage is at the very least confusing. Reducing the speed limit is not going to work. It’s time for Lord Brownrigg to retire he never gives a straight answer. I wonder how he’ll adjust living among the commoners. He also manage to build one of the ugliest homes in Burlingame. I guess Mike made a bundle and the rest of us must see the eyesore he created. Think See’s Candy store on steroids BIG white with black trim.

5. Cassandra

   September 1, 2026

   I heard a saying from the plans to narrow streets in Laguna Beach for “traffic calming.”

   “Traffic calming means more traffic.”
   Exactly.

   Try driving 15 mph. Imagine California Drive at commute times. Everyone creeping along like we’re at an amusement park. And then the fire station gets a call. Does Vision Zero envision the unintended consequences of jammed traffic leading to an avoidable death by a slowed EMT response?

   There is something ominous about seeking a Vision Zero in regard to mortality. Remember the government wanting to “Lower the Curve” during Covid and then suddenly there are mask mandates, shutdowns, 6-foot spacing and Covid passports? “Not one more death!” was cried.

   Given that precedent we’ll soon be hiking to work.

   (I think this 15 mph idea is an opening bid to a 25 mph compromise to the likely enraged citizenry.

   Remember years ago when the city suddenly lowered the speed limit on California to 25 mph? People protested and the signs were changed back to 35 mph.)

6. Spurrina

   September 1, 2026

   In an emergency the fire can always go down that empty bike lane.

7. Joe

   September 1, 2026

   Thanks to a local sleuth, I can certify that there is no 15mph option in the current B’game city code. There isn’t even a 20 mph choice as shown here:

   https://ecode360.com/44511484

   The part of California Dr. we are talking about seems to fit in the “all other” 25 mph category.

   For comparison, per Google:

   The typical speed limit in a parking lot ranges from 5 to 15 miles per hour (mph), depending on the property and local rules.

   Common Speed Limits5 mph: Common in tight spaces, small lots, or near building entrances where foot traffic is heavy.

   10 to 15 mph: Standard for larger commercial lots, shopping centers, and apartment complexes.

8. Joe

   September 4, 2026

   From today’s Comicle. Any guesses as to how the police find a hit-and-run “in minutes”

   A Milpitas woman was charged with murder Tuesday after authorities accused her of deliberately running over and killing her friend with an SUV at the apartment complex where they lived.

   When officers arrived, they found Hari bleeding and with severe head injuries. She was later pronounced dead at the apartment complex. Witnesses reported seeing a blue Toyota Highlander strike three parked vehicles as its driver fled from the complex, police said.

   Authorities found the SUV minutes later in a Walgreens parking lot on North Milpitas Boulevard.