From the PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE:
… Eighteen years ago, a federal appropriations bill required the U.S. Transportation Department to develop standards for how bright road signs should be, as measured by their ability to reflect light back to its source, presumably an oncoming vehicle’s headlights. It has taken years for the regulations to be developed, but Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood recently reopened public comment in an attempt to either delay or abolish them.
Despite the federal government’s heavy hand, there are good reasons for adopting uniform standards that make road signs easier to see: A 65-year-old driver needs four times the amount of light to see at night compared to a 25-year-old; the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety projects that, by 2025, one in every four drivers will be 65 or older; brighter signs help emergency personnel reach a scene more quickly; and although only a quarter of travel occurs at night, that’s when half of all traffic fatalities take place.
But forcing municipalities to replace signs that still have useful life in them is wasteful, and with states and towns struggling to balance their budgets without raising taxes, this is not the time to push an unfunded mandate down their throats…
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