Signs and expressions stating the obvious

A sign just for bicyclists on Page Mill Road. How patronizing.

Have you seen the signs on Page Mill Road warning about water tank work about a quarter-mile up from Moody Road?

I wonder who made them because they sure don’t adhere to any highway sign standards I’m aware of. They call out cyclist, which I find curious.

Here’s what it says:

Attention Bicyclists

Construction Zone

Ahead Loose Gravel

Please Slow Down

Have a Safe Ride

I think it’s great that the local water agency, my guess, went to such effort to create a sign, but it’s not necessary. The work affects all traffic and poses a similar hazard to motorcycles, cars, trucks, anyone using the road. Let’s use the proper signs, ones that we’re all accustomed to seeing.

We’re all guilty of stating the obvious. As I was riding slowly up Page Mill Road, I heard a voice pipe up behind me as a car drove by: “Car back!”

I quickly checked my hearing aid to see if it was working. Working fine, that really was the noise of a car approaching; I heard it for quite some distance before it passed.

There’s only one expression more annoying: “Car up!” On those I have to check both my hearing aid and my prescription glasses to see that they’re working. Let’s not forget “On your left.”

Come to think of it, when passing it might be better to say, Have a Safe Ride!