Talk:Street sign theft

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I would like to recomend putting the sign of online fame, "Warning: This sign has sharp edges! (also: bridge is out)" in the gallery. Just look up this sign has sharp edges on Google Images. User:Jamesbrownmonster 20/Dec 2006 17:46

I believe those signs are have said to be fake and thus they do not apply. If I am wrong, then I apologize. But I have not found any sources which claim these are real and not

• photoshops. ---RexHenderson (talk) 19:00, 17 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I'm disappointed that this is not the name of a struggling band in Queensland, Australia. Wetman 19:03, 3 Apr 2004 (UTC)

There is a street in a neighborhood in Baton Rouge, LA USA called "Plum Broque". The sign is stolen and replaced several times a year.

We need a list of signs frequently stolen. Please!

There is a street named My St in Launceston, Tasmania that would be on this list :) -- Chuq 13:31, 22 Sep 2004 (UTC)

High Street in Urbana, Illinois passes some UIUC dorms, and all of its signs were missing when I was a student there. Has that changed since 1981? —Tamfang 05:05, 22 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

A number of people have been adding links to sign manufacturers' websites. This is (a) of little relevance to the topic of this article (after all, articles on headaches don't have links to aspirin retailers), and (b) against Wikipedia policies (this site is not a set of links for marketing or promotional purposes; this is an encyclopaedia, not the dmoz.org section on sign manufacturers). As such, I contend that such links should be considered as linkspam and reverted. Acb 21:14, 11 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I don't agree. I didn't know that anyone sold street signs until I saw the links here, so knowing that such street sign sellers exists helps me to understand street sign theft in context (eg, wondering why dont people buy a street sign rather than steal one?). And besides, from the website: "First things first: no one involved with the Manual of Traffic Signs actually sells traffic signs. This site is intended to provide information on US road and traffic signs, not to push or vend any actual tangible product", which is an accurate characterization of the website. All of which is valuable information about the phenomenon of street sign theft. Robinh 07:18, 12 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]

The article says that street sign theft is when signs with strange/popular/funny names are stolen. I don't think that this is constricted to signs with names like that. A few signs near my house were stolen and they don't really have anything strange or funny about them. Evan Robidoux 23:53, 25 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Never mind. Evan Robidoux 00:14, 26 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Indeed - stop signs seem to be a common choice. I've rewritten the intro paragraph to reflect this. Feel free to make further changes! -SCEhardT 00:16, 26 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Another motivation not mentioned is theft for the metal value of signs. This seems to be common in parts of England at least, and you might be able to dig up a news story on the theft of lots of large signs from M60 motorway around Manchester and Salford. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.200.22.2 (talk) 16:00, 11 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

In one notable United States case, thieves were found guilty of manslaughter for stealing a stop sign, and thereby causing a deadly collision. This was popularized in the novel Driver's Ed by Caroline B. Cooney. What's the source for this text? 24.32.212.143 05:35, 19 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I know this was very recently deleted. I was just wondering if this could be placed on this page anyway (I still however hope this is not an advertisement). Simply south 00:10, 2 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I don't believe it. It would take some planning to steal this sign. jnestorius^(talk) 19:59, 13 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I agree, you'd need a team of construction workers and a fork lift truck to get this thing moved!--SamGonshaw 09:08, 1 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

lol. Agreed. Although maybe this is the sign as it is now, and in an earlier time the sign was much smaller (perhaps also printed with a smaller font-size), and so it used to be stolen a lot, but it isn't anymore. My 2 cents. (On the other hand: you'll be amazed about how inventive people can become when it comes to stealing stuff, be it big or small, so I think it's fair to leave it in the article) DaSjieb 10:29, 1 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Is Oral Roberts University signs to be protected from thieves? Nowadays, the word "oral" can be refer to oral sex. There is also a small outpost or a unincorporated community in Tennessee named Oral, which is just 30 miles west of Knoxville. It is located in Loudon County. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.24.18.205 (talk) 18:15, 27 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I remember once hearing that the distinctive black on white signs in rural Ireland, are stolen, to be sold to Irish Pubs around the world, so often, that it's a major problem. Anyone know if this is true? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.113.101.219 (talk) 22:07, 19 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The list of examples is rather long and disorganised. It would make the article much better if they were organised by topic, such as sexual (Intercourse, Fucking), tv shows (Coronation St, Ramsay St, Sesame Street), drugs (Bong Recreation Area, 420), unfortunate juxtapositions (Ham / Sandwich, College / Weed) and the like. -- B.D.Mills  (T, C) 06:32, 20 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I have a possible citation for "avoid obeying the law by claiming later the sign was not there". A defendant accused of speeding replaced a 30mph repeater by a 40mph version moved from elsewhere in Manchester (England) in 2008 and presented its photograph in court. Unfortunately I can't track down a quotable source. Can you do better? Certes (talk) 12:44, 21 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Regarding my adding, and SchuminWeb's subsequent removal of File:Gebed zonder end.jpg, the sign is obviously painted on the wall because previous bolted-on signs have all been stolen. I could have explained that in the caption, but it was already quite long, and adding "to prevent theft" should be unnecessary in an article like this. Maybe I should have added a sentence in the body text. "Gebed zonder end" (Prayer without end) is also a saying in Dutch for something that takes a seemingly-infinite time, or a chore that keeps coming back; this makes this particular sign very much wanted. Maybe non-English examples are inappropriate, though, on the English Wikipedia, but I didn't see any English-language examples of using paint instead of a normal sign in the gallery, so this should be a fine example. – gpvos (talk) 11:13, 11 May 2009 (UTC)

The Dutch Wikipedia actually has an article on the street because it has some interesting history. The article notes the street sign (yeah, I know Wikipedia itself cannot be a source). Here is what Google Translate makes of it, slightly mistranslating: "steeg" means alley, not rose. – gpvos (talk) 15:55, 1 October 2010 (UTC)

That's a subject line, not an insult. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.236.136.184 (talk) 17:40, 26 July 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not sure this is worth mentioning (and I definitely don't have any good references for it), but occasionally, people target a specific sign, or the sign for a specific block, rather than just any sign for the street. For example, this sign for "Cheremoya Av 1900 N" in Hollywood was stolen multiple times, but none of the other (easier-to-steal) signs for the same avenue. This is probably because of a Germs (band) bootleg whose cover was a picture of Darby Crash that featured that sign prominently. I'd assume the same is likely true for, e.g., signs that appear noticeably in the opening credits of TV shows. --157.131.170.189 (talk) 03:45, 11 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

I'm going to start removing the unsourced items from here, if anyone cares. --jpgordon^{𝄢𝄆𝄐𝄇} 19:37, 1 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]