Obviously a static sign is not aware of your current state, so it's message can only be interpreted as relevant to your likely state... i.e. the posted speed limit.

If you should slow down relative to the posted speed limit why not change the speed limit to reflect that directly?

Usually the reason is the "slow down" portion is very small, and it's confusing to shift down the actual speed limit for a 200 foot stretch of road then increase it again.

There are signs for that. Advisory speeds that don't change the actual limit. https://wisconsindot.gov/PublishingImages/doing-bus/local-go...

Much better to be specific than a vague "slow down". There's a road near me with two tight turns a couple blocks apart. One advises 25mph and the other advises 10mph.

FWIW, it seems less confusing to me than longer speed limits, but with "Slow Down".

Except we do that all the time in school zones... normally 35+, but from 7am-9am and again from 2pm-4pm the limit drops to 25mph (which is still to fast if the kids are actually crossing the street or walking alongside en masse).

Think of it like they're saying "my children play on this street and my neighbors walk here. Please think about that when you decide how fast to go here."

A lot of clickbait headlines have the same problem. "You're using too much washing powder!"

Everyone's replying to you as if you truly don't understand the sign's intention but I'm sure you do. It's just annoying to be doing everything right and the signs and headlines are still telling you you're wrong.

There was a driving safety safety ad campaign here: "Drive to the conditions. If they change, reduce your speed." You can imagine how slow we'd all be going if the weather kept changing.

We might have OCPD.

Yes. You have understood precisely the spirit in which I intended it.

In advertising: "Treat yourself. You deserve it!"

Me: What if someone who didn't deserve it heard this message. How can you possibly know what I deserve? Do all people deserve to treat themselves? Is the notion of deserving or treating really so vacuous?

Normies: jfc

There's a mental health awareness campaign going on around here at the moment with all the generic messages like that. "You're doing great" is completely devalued by the sign giving the same message to everyone, and the best one says something like "Don't push yourself too hard. If you want to rest, rest." Wondering if I can tell my boss the sign told me it's okay not to get any work done.

Humans are supposed to deal with this kind of ambiguity. Actually, that's one of our nicest abilities.

I hate when people pretend to be smarter than everyone else by pointing this kind of utterance and insisting that someone, somehow, will parse those statements in the most literal and stupid manner.

Then there are the ignorant misanthropes that can't waste a chance to repeat their reductionist speculations about human cognition. Just like the idiot Elon Musk that wasted billions in irrecoverably fucked self-driving system based on computer-version because he underestimated the human visual cortex.

Fucking annoying midwits.

Sorry I made you mad. I wasn't trying to seem smarter than everyone. Maybe dumber.

A very kind response to such a grating lack of self-awareness.

Think of the sign as a flag, not an instruction.

You learn how to put those signs into context during your driving lessons, and fail your test if you don't apply that correctly.

My driving test was so thorough that I had to parallel park between two entirely fictional cars. There was certainly no consideration of eccentric signage.

I apologize if I gave the impression that I did not understand how to put them into context. Although I don't think my driving lessons ever mentioned it.

This is idle XKCD-style musing.