Street sign theft
Encyclopedia
Traffic sign
Traffic signs or road signs are signs erected at the side of roads to provide information to road users. With traffic volumes increasing over the last eight decades, many countries have adopted pictorial signs or otherwise simplified and standardized their signs to facilitate international travel...
are stolen, often to be used as decorations, but also sometimes to avoid obeying the law by claiming later the sign was not there. Although the theft often seems arbitrary, signs that are unusual or amusing tend to be stolen more frequently. Sometimes considered to be a prank by the perpetrators, the theft is often costly and inconvenient (and can possibly be dangerous) for the municipality or agency that owns the sign. In the United States, each street sign generally costs between $100 and $500 to replace.
In law
In most jurisdictions, the theft of traffic signage is treated like any other theft with respect to prosecution and sentencing. If, however, the theft leads to an injury, then the thieves may be found criminally liable for the injury as well, provided that an injury of that sort was a foreseeable consequence of such a theft. In one notable United States case, three people were found guilty of manslaughterManslaughter
Manslaughter is a legal term for the killing of a human being, in a manner considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is said to have first been made by the Ancient Athenian lawmaker Dracon in the 7th century BC.The law generally differentiates...
for stealing a stop sign
Stop sign
A Stop sign is a traffic sign to notify drivers that they must stop before proceeding.-Specifications:The Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals proposed standard stop sign diameters of 0.6, 0.9 or 1.2 metres. UK and New Zealand stop signs are 750, 900 or 1200 mm, according to sign...
and thereby causing a deadly collision. This was publicized in the novel Driver's Ed by Caroline B. Cooney
Caroline B. Cooney
Caroline B. Cooney is an American author of suspense, romance, horror and mystery books for young adults. She currently resides in Fort Mill, South Carolina....
.
Prevention
Some jurisdictions place stickers on street signs warning of the legal punishment for their theft. Some cities (e.g. TorontoToronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
) use specially designed bolts to attach signs and prevent removal.
With some of the more popular street names such as Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
's famous "Penny Lane
Penny Lane
"Penny Lane" is a song by The Beatles, written by Paul McCartney. It was credited to Lennon–McCartney.Recorded during the Sgt. Pepper sessions, "Penny Lane" was released in February 1967 as one side of a double A-sided single, along with "Strawberry Fields Forever". Both songs were later included...
", authorities gave up the practice of constantly replacing signs and simply resorted to painting the name of the street on the walls. Other jurisdictions offer replica street signs for sale to discourage theft.
Popular culture examples
- The sign for South Park Street in Lawrence, KansasLawrence, KansasLawrence is the sixth largest city in the U.S. State of Kansas and the county seat of Douglas County. Located in northeastern Kansas, Lawrence is the anchor city of the Lawrence, Kansas, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Douglas County...
has been stolen on several occasions, prompting the city to install theft-proof bolts on the sign. - Brickyard Road, Clay County, FloridaClay County, FloridaClay County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida. As of 2010, the population was 190,895. Its county seat is Green Cove Springs, Florida. Clay County is part of the Greater Jacksonville Metropolitan area.- History :...
. Fans repeatedly stole the road sign because Lynyrd Skynyrd lead singer Ronnie Van ZantRonnie Van ZantRonald Wayne "Ronnie" Van Zant was an American lead vocalist, primary lyricist, and a founding member of the Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd...
was living there before his death in 1977 and his brother, Johnny Van ZantJohnny Van ZantJohn Roy "Johnny" Van Zant is an American musician and the current lead vocalist of Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd. He is the younger brother of Lynyrd Skynyrd co-founder and former lead vocalist Ronnie Van Zant and .38 Special founder Donnie Van Zant.Van Zant performed during the 1970s with...
, released an album and single called Brickyard Road in 1990. The county eventually erected a concreteConcreteConcrete is a composite construction material, composed of cement and other cementitious materials such as fly ash and slag cement, aggregate , water and chemical admixtures.The word concrete comes from the Latin word...
pillar with the street name painted on it, as opposed to a traditional road sign. - LeganésLeganésLeganés is a city in central Spain. Part of the greater Madrid conurbation - mainly a satellite-city with a population of 186,066 it is located about 11 km southwest of the city centre....
, Spain dedicated some streets to rock groups like AC/DCAC/DCAC/DC are an Australian rock band, formed in 1973 by brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. Commonly classified as hard rock, they are considered pioneers of heavy metal, though they themselves have always classified their music as simply "rock and roll"...
, Iron MaidenIron MaidenIron Maiden are an English heavy metal band from Leyton in east London, formed in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. Since their inception, the band's discography has grown to include a total of thirty-six albums: fifteen studio albums; eleven live albums; four EPs; and six...
and RosendoRosendo MercadoRosendo Mercado Ruiz is a Spanish rock singer and songwriter. He was part of the groups Ñu and Leño, and is a prominent exponent of the so-called urban rock in Spain.- First steps :...
. The AC/DC sign was stolen days after inauguration. Leganés authorities now offer identical signs for sale. - State, provincial or federal highways in many countries may face sign theft issues if their route number has popular culture connotations. Numbers especially prone to theft include 69 because of its use as a slang term for simultaneous oral sex, 420 because of its connection to marijuana culture, and 666 because of its association with the Biblical Number of the BeastNumber of the BeastThe Number of the Beast is a term in the Book of Revelation, of the New Testament, that is associated with the first Beast of Revelation chapter 13, the Beast of the sea. In most manuscripts of the New Testament and in English translations of the Bible, the number of the Beast is...
. U.S. Route 66U.S. Route 66U.S. Route 66 was a highway within the U.S. Highway System. One of the original U.S. highways, Route 66 was established on November 11, 1926 -- with road signs erected the following year...
in the United States, the subject of a famous 1940s pop song, also sees frequent sign theft — signs are so often stolen that in some places it can be difficult to navigate without knowing the route; furthermore, US 66 signage has not been maintained since the route was decommissioned from the U.S. Highway System in 1985. - Ragged Ass RoadRagged Ass Road (street)Ragged Ass Road is a well-known street in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories; Tom Cochrane named his album Ragged Ass Road after it. The street itself was named by Lou Rocher and his friends after a season of hard work and no profit; they were sitting around one night, drinking and joking that they...
in Yellowknife, Northwest TerritoriesNorthwest TerritoriesThe Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada.Located in northern Canada, the territory borders Canada's two other territories, Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east, and three provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, and Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south...
, CanadaCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
saw such frequent sign thefts that the city welded the sign to the post and began to sell replica street signs. - Similarly, in the southernmost urbanized portion of Anchorage, AlaskaAlaskaAlaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
, near the Seward HighwaySeward HighwayThe Seward Highway is a highway in the U.S. state of Alaska that extends 127 miles from Seward to Anchorage. It was completed in 1951 and runs through the scenic Kenai Peninsula and Turnagain Arm, for which it was designated an All-American Road by the U.S...
, a neighborhood street was called Jackass Lane. The sign at its intersection with Huffman Road, a major thoroughfare in Anchorage, was stolen so frequently during the 1970s and 1980s that the city government renamed the street to Silver Fox Lane. - Signs leading to Bolinas, CaliforniaBolinas, CaliforniaBolinas formerly Juggville is a coastal unincorporated community in Marin County, California in the San Francisco Bay Area. Bolinas is located west-southwest of San Rafael, at an elevation of 36 feet...
were often stolen or wrongly placed by its reclusive residents as a means to make it difficult for tourists to locate the beachside town. - The entry sign in Intercourse, PennsylvaniaIntercourse, PennsylvaniaIntercourse, Pennsylvania is an unincorporated village in Leacock Township, Lancaster County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, ten miles east of Lancaster on PA 340. As with the nearby towns of Bird-in-Hand, Blue Ball, and Paradise, Intercourse is a popular site for tourists because of its...
has been stolen or vandalized on more than one occasion. - Street signs on Butt Hole RoadButt Hole RoadButt Hole Road is the former name of a street in the town of Conisbrough, Doncaster, England, within the county of South Yorkshire. The street gained fame for its suggestive name, and has since been renamed to Archers Way...
in EnglandEnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
were stolen over time, due its similarity to the slang term for "anusAnusThe anus is an opening at the opposite end of an animal's digestive tract from the mouth. Its function is to control the expulsion of feces, unwanted semi-solid matter produced during digestion, which, depending on the type of animal, may be one or more of: matter which the animal cannot digest,...
". The street was eventually renamed to Archers Way in 2009. - After frequent thefts of its welcome sign at the town boundary, the AustriaAustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n village of FuckingFucking, AustriaFucking is an Austrian village in the municipality of Tarsdorf, in the Innviertel region of western Upper Austria. The village is north of Salzburg, east of the German border....
installed theft-resistant signs in 2005. - The village of ShittertonShittertonShitterton is a hamlet nestling at the edge of the village of Bere Regis in the Purbeck district of Dorset, England, near the junction of the A31 and A35 trunk roads halfway between Poole and Dorchester...
in the United KingdomUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
saw its welcome sign stolen so often that in 2007 the local councilDorset County CouncilDorset County Council is the county council of the Dorset in England. It provides the upper tier of local government, below which are district councils, and town and parish councils...
stopped replacing it. The village's residents eventually chipped in to buy a one-and-a-half-tonne stone slab with the town's name engraved on it as a permanent replacement. - All the signs of the DutchNetherlandsThe Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
village MaaskantjeMaaskantjeMaaskantje is a village in the Dutch province North Brabant. The village is part of the municipality Sint-Michielsgestel, south east of 's-Hertogenbosch....
were stolen since the New KidsNew KidsNew Kids is a Dutch comedy sketch show about a group of anti social youths from Maaskantje.The show was first shown on Flabber.nl, a Dutch weblog. Later it was picked up by 101 TV and Comedy Central...
comedy sketch show on Comedy CentralComedy Central NetherlandsComedy Central Netherlands is a Dutch speaking television channel equivalent to Comedy Central. The channel is available on cable, digital terrestrial and satellite operators in the Netherlands. It broadcasts many imports as well as original programming...
(which is situated in the village) became popular (both in the Netherlands and GermanyGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
). The municipality Maaskantje belongs to decided not to replace the stolen signs.