OT: Matrix signs!!!

[whiskychaser]

I find these are useless 9 times out of ten. My experience of the last week together with comments:
'Animals in the road. 50mph'
If you hit a one tonne bull you dont want to be doing 50. Where are the animals anyway? Never see any
'Workforce in the road. 50 mph'
Workforce shouldnt be in the road. If you hit them at 50 they are dead
'Flood'
Dry road. Sunny day. Road is so high it will never see a flood
'Arrow left' (in right hand lane)
This means move left as the right hand lane is closed. Funny the left hand lane has a big red 'X' above it a mile ahead
'Spray. Slow down'
Dry road. WTF?
'Pedestrians in road'
No pedestrians in sight. It should say ' slow down or you will run up the arse of the guy in front-he thinks there are pedestrians in the road'
'Debris in road'
No there isnt. If there were, the sign saying debris in road wouldnt be up
'Queue after junction'
If you are driving after 0600 you dont need to be told
'End'
No its not the end of the delay - its the back end of the queue so slow down

I had the very good fortune to be asked what I thought of the the matrix signs by a lady doing a survey on the M5 services. I felt much better after I told her but wonder if others have the similar experiences?

[pingu]

I too have learnt to ignore them - if a sign says 'FOG' then it might have foggy the day before, or last week.

P.S. This all might not mean much to our US members.

[whiskychaser]

I too have learnt to ignore them - if a sign says 'FOG' then it might have foggy the day before, or last week.

P.S. This all might not mean much to our US members.
I'm sure they must have matrix signs in the US but I dont remember seeing them:) For anyone who is vaguely interested here is a link:
http://www.roadtraffic-technology.com/contractors/driver_info/variable/
For visitors to the UK I would just add that the ones NOT to ignore are those with a red ring around the speed limit eg M42, M25. They have speed cameras at each sign. Pass 4 too quickly and you dont have a licence any more.

[DaveVoorhis]

Here's a pic of both kinds of sign, which I took a few weeks ago on the M42:
http://shark.armchair.mb.ca/~dave/MotorwayMatrixSigns.jpg
Shame on me for playing with my new camera whilst driving...

I keep waiting for a sign that reads, "Don't look here! You're driving into the back of -" *BANG*