Stickers & Graffiti on road signs

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Trygve Roberts

Pack Dog
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I know many of you are going to get peed off about this, but we ask you to think really carefully about it.

This week we have a look at the rich history of Andrew Bain's 1853 masterpiece, but perhaps a more controversial issue is the application of stickers on road signs. Our entry on our Facebook page on this issue raised many comments. Some say it's a great culture - why not? Others say it's vandalism. Fact is it is the same as painting your name on a rock or carving it into a tree.  All this came about when we (MPSA) recently acquired the assets and rights of the company, Cape Mountain Passes. These include the 54 mountain pass summit sign information boards, which have been around for about a decade and are starting to look a bit worse for the wear. We are systematically refurbishing the signs and believe me its a lot of work and costs a lot of money. The vast majority of stickers have been applied by bikers.

The signs have stickers/decals which in many cases damage the substrate when being removed. There is graffiti (Mostly scratched into the brown background and of course bullet holes which are impossible to repair. We cover them with a small patch of vinyl. It costs about R1000 in material alone and another R1000 for fuel and labour for the signs more than 150 km from Cape Town. If everyone respected the road signs (not their property to destroy) the boards would last for a very long time and maintenance would be minimal.

The subculture of sticking stickers on signs started a long time ago in the States and spread all over the world.  The fact is that its vandalism.  A number of interesting solutions have been proposed:
1. Erect a sacrificial blank sign under the main sign for stickers. (This costs more money)
2. Change the subculture to get stickers placed behind the signs. (Brilliant solution but people that like stickers like them to be seen)
3. Auction the old boards off as memorabilia and use those funds to erect new boards. (A new board will cost around R20,000 to be built and erected)
4. Information campaign creating awareness that its not OK to put decals on road signs. (Probably the right thing to do)
5. Create a fostering campaign where individuals can sponsor the maintenance of a sign for a 5 year cycle and benefit from advertising on the MPSA site and social media pages.

Feel free to voice your opinion. We'd like to hear them.

Late edit: For those who feel it's OK to put a sticker on a private or public signboard - How would you feel if we put a sticker on your bike's petrol tank without your permission? (There would be outrage right?). Just think about it in that context and you will see the light. It's definitely not OK when the shoe is on the other foot.

https://mountainpassessouthafrica.co.za/news/item/1629-latest-news-16th-july,-2020.html
 
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