Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Anybody ever get caught stealing a street sign?
- Thread starter ziggyonice
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Well taking a street sign off the street is illegal, having a street sign is not. So, depending on the sign I would have been like "What the hell man, that's not yours for the taking". If it was a particular street sign I could see it, but if it was a no parking or a stop sign, he would have had no right to take it as you can buy those in stores.
I did get caught stealing a street sign by my mother when I was like 16-17.
It was late evening one night. I was busy getting the sign off the post when I hard a car pull up fast behind me. I thought I was totally busted. Then I heard my mother, thought I was busted even worse. Then she said, "Hurry up and get that in the car before someone sees"! Awesome!
I did get caught stealing a street sign by my mother when I was like 16-17.
It was late evening one night. I was busy getting the sign off the post when I hard a car pull up fast behind me. I thought I was totally busted. Then I heard my mother, thought I was busted even worse. Then she said, "Hurry up and get that in the car before someone sees"! Awesome!
i find this sign unnecessarily derogatory and you should be ashamed of keeping it and laugh about it.
people should be careful around children, whether they are slow or not.
----
We've had an old "One Way" sign in our possession since as long as I can remember. I guess my parents took it back in the day or something.
Chances are whatever sign you had has already been replaced by your council anyway, so it's a pointless effort and the guy was obviously on a little power trip.
We used to have a yellow "Caution: Wet floor" cone as a door stop in our kitchen at uni halls, we found it out in the hallway and gave it a good home, a few weeks later the cleaners threatened to report us to the police if we didn't return it to wherever we found it, so we put it back in the hallway... the flat group next to us stole it within the hour.
I'm pretty sure it had circulated most of the building by the end of the year.
We used to have a yellow "Caution: Wet floor" cone as a door stop in our kitchen at uni halls, we found it out in the hallway and gave it a good home, a few weeks later the cleaners threatened to report us to the police if we didn't return it to wherever we found it, so we put it back in the hallway... the flat group next to us stole it within the hour.
I'm pretty sure it had circulated most of the building by the end of the year.
I found a brown sign that was broken off of a wooden stand that says "private property no public use" and has the CA bear in the corner, pretty cool. Also my friend and I noticed a No parking any time sign that was laying on the floor, next to it's pole. Snagged that one to, but it's pretty obnoxious.
The person who collected the traffic lights obtained it after a storm knocked it down onto the intersection. It was huge, a four way traffic light that appeared relatively new and remarkably undamaged. I don't know how he wired it, but the lights were on. I don't think he was particulary sophisticated about getting it to light up. All of the lights were on at once--so it wasn't functioning like it would on the street. It was impressive, but I never realized how huge those things are and how out of place and ridiculous it looked in a home.
Stealing Street Signs
In certain states, like Kentucky, it is illegal for a private individual to even posess a street or road sign.
In other states, it is not illegal per se just to have one in your possession.
In these other states, it depends upon how you acquired the road sign and the condition of the sign.
If you took it down yourself, or someone else took it down, then it's stolen property and it's illegal if the authorities can prove you have stolen property in your possession, but I believe they must prove that you are knowingly in possession of stolen property.
If you find a sign lying along the road where it has fallen off a post and it's still in reasonable condition, it's possible the jurisdiction might want to re-install the sign, rather than install a brand new one. Better just leave it there.
If you find a road sign that a reasonable person would believe has been obviously discarded and nobody wants, then there is nothing wrong with taking it. For example, you may find old discarded bridge signs and sometimes they are still attached to the old rusty poles, but the point is, they were thrown over the side of the bridge into a creek by the state/county/township/city workers who replaced them with new signs. Or you may find another type of old sign that has outlived its usefulness that has been thrown into a ditch. These jurisdictions did not want them anymore, and they just pitched them away.
There are companies in Illinois that recycle old aluminum street/road signs and make key rings and the like from them, so it is certainly not illegal in Illinois to simply be caught in posession of one. After, all these companies are allowed to have them in their possession.
In certain states, like Kentucky, it is illegal for a private individual to even posess a street or road sign.
In other states, it is not illegal per se just to have one in your possession.
In these other states, it depends upon how you acquired the road sign and the condition of the sign.
If you took it down yourself, or someone else took it down, then it's stolen property and it's illegal if the authorities can prove you have stolen property in your possession, but I believe they must prove that you are knowingly in possession of stolen property.
If you find a sign lying along the road where it has fallen off a post and it's still in reasonable condition, it's possible the jurisdiction might want to re-install the sign, rather than install a brand new one. Better just leave it there.
If you find a road sign that a reasonable person would believe has been obviously discarded and nobody wants, then there is nothing wrong with taking it. For example, you may find old discarded bridge signs and sometimes they are still attached to the old rusty poles, but the point is, they were thrown over the side of the bridge into a creek by the state/county/township/city workers who replaced them with new signs. Or you may find another type of old sign that has outlived its usefulness that has been thrown into a ditch. These jurisdictions did not want them anymore, and they just pitched them away.
There are companies in Illinois that recycle old aluminum street/road signs and make key rings and the like from them, so it is certainly not illegal in Illinois to simply be caught in posession of one. After, all these companies are allowed to have them in their possession.
I didn't steal a road sign. I did, however, steal a bright orange street barrier (about 5ft big) to help jump over the wall at school at 4am to draw a 30ft penis and balls on the school field in compost in-front of the head teachers office on the third floor
You can probably get for cheaper than the city buys them made here:
http://www.mrstreetsigns.com/?gclid=COr54r6p1aMCFeoD5QodWw4_wA
This is one of my favorite uses of street equippment though:
![090616-barrel-monster-hmed-.grid-4x2.jpg]()
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31395158/
This is possibly the coolest thing I have ever seen!
Not likely. I know damn near everybody at my City Hall, and I guarantee you the guy in the Building Department who does the inspections knows everybody in the Streets Department and what they do.
The problem with stealing a sign or a barrier is that these things are not decorative; they're there for a purpose. Barriers are of course used in construction zones. I can't recall the exact circumstances, but someone around here was either seriously injured or killed a few years back because they were driving at night and the road just ended and their car took a dive into a missing chunk of pavement and crashed into the concrete where the road resumed on the other side...all because someone thought it would be fun to steal the barrier. Who knows, maybe the guy who took it was doing a joke too.I didn't steal a road sign. I did, however, steal a bright orange street barrier (about 5ft big) to help jump over the wall at school at 4am to draw a 30ft penis and balls on the school field in compost in-front of the head teachers office on the third floor
Same thing with road signs. It could be something as innocent-looking as a speed limit sign, but if it's there because there's an obstructed view (like around a curve) where people are supposed to slow down to 20 or 25, and they're going 35 because you took the sign, they could very well hit someone they may have otherwise seen. And if someone steals a stop sign, I don't care if it's replaced a day or two later -- every hour that that sign is missing is a potentially deadly situation for anyone passing perpendicular to that intersection.
There may be few consequences of stealing street name signs other than lost travelers, but taking any kind of sign related to safety isn't just illegal, it's stupidly reckless.
you can get charged with a felony for stealing street signs... whether or not they enforce it depends on the area you steal it from and the cop that catches you
you should be fine though..
you should be fine though..
There is a street crossing sign with metal pole that was in my side yard when I bought this house that's now in my neighbors side yard . The only sticker on it anywhere is a dated inspection sticker from '03.
. The only sticker on it anywhere is a dated inspection sticker from '03.