FAQ's & Safety Tips

When it comes to reflective signs, High Intensity or Diamond Grade sheeting is required for all traffic signs.

Engineer grade signs are acceptable for parking signs.

It will depend on your climate and if the sign is facing south. Engineer grade signs generally last for at least seven years. High Intensity and Diamond Grade signs can last 12 years or more years.

If your parking lot and roads are "open to public travel", your signs need to follow MUTCD standards. They must meet the same levels of retroreflectivity that traffic signs on public highways and roads are required to have. As far as off-street roads that are build and maintainted privately go, they usually don't require the same rules as highway signs. Installing the proper reflective signs is the best way to protect yourself from legal action.

Channel posts should be pounded 18" to 30"deep  into the ground, depending on the length of the post and soil conditions.

No. The technology we have today allows us to print nearly anything you can design onto a traffic or parking blank. Custom sizes and shapes are available.

No. Section 2B.10 of the MUTCD states that "No items other than inventory stickers, sign installation dates, and bar codes shall be affixed to the fronts of STOP or YIELD signs, and the placement of these items shall be in the border of the sign. No items other than official traffic control signs, inventory stickers, sign installation dates, anti-vandalism stickers and bar codes shall be mounted on the backs of STOP or YIELD signs. No items other than retroreflective strips (see Section 2A.21) or official traffic control signs shall be mounted on the fronts or backs of STOP or YIELD signs supports." The reason for this is that "Buckle Up" and other such messages detract from the motorist's recognition of the STOP sign as a stop sign.

Fluorescent Yellow Green background color is now required for warning signs and plaques for school area traffic control and is optional for pedestrian and bicycle sign applications.

Yes, Section 2A.16 of the MUTCD states that "Signs should be individually installed on separate posts or mountings except where a) one sign supplements another, or b) route or directional signs are grouped to clarify information to motorists, or c) regulatory signs that do not conflict with each other are grouped, such as turn prohibition signs posted with one-way signs or a parking regulation sign posted with a speed limit sign, or d) Street name signs are posted with a stop or yield sign."

No, lettering for place names and destinations on all guide signs, including Street Name signs, shall be in mixed case lettering with the 1st letter in upper case followed by lower case lettering. This is because mixed case lettering has better recognition and legibility distances than all upper case lettering for place names and destinations. The minimum letter heights for Street Name signs given in Section 2D.45 refer to the height of the initial upper case letter.

The current design of the School and School Crossing warning sign does not include the lines indicating crosswalk markings under the children's feet. The design with the lines under the children's feet (formerly S2-1) was deleted effective with the 2000 MUTCD. The S1-1 pentagon-shaped sign, without lines under the children's feet, is now used both for the advance warning (with an "AHEAD" W16-9p plaque) and at the crosswalk itself (with a downward sloping arrow W16-7 plaque). See Sections 7B.08 and 7B.09 for details. The 10-year compliance period for upgrading school warning signs to the new designs ended on January 17, 2011.