Rules of the Road: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|''In fiction, road signs mean '''''exactly''''' what they say.''}}
If the speed limit sign says 250, you had better be doing 250. If a yellow caution sign warns of an impenetrable snarl of an intersection, a 360-degree vertical loop, or a moose, guess what you're about to see?
Further, any law-enforcement along the road will measure your performance according to the road signs (no matter how ludicrous, and even if they've been recently vandalized) and praise or punish you accordingly.
Often a version of a [[Visual Pun]]. See also [[Can't You Read the Sign?|Can't You Read The Sign]].
In a rare aversion people who are either [[Genre Savvy]] or extremely horror-movie tier violent will disregard or kill the [[Too Dumb to Live]] people who are enforcing idiotically vandalised signs. Often leads to jokes regarding the "Slow Children Playing" sign.
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== [[Film]] ==
* ''[[Pee
** This scene is noted for [[Special Effects Failure]], as you can see the signs moving along a track toward the camera.
* One of the ''[[Cannonball Run]]'' films showed a racer sticking numbers to a speed limit sign, changing it from 55
** They were driving a Lamborghini. So yeah...
* ''[[The Muppet Movie]]'' has a map that says that there's a fork in the road. Sure, the road branches into two, but there's also a GIANT fork in the road! (which is apparently a real landmark)
{{quote|
'''Fozzie:''' Yessir, turn left at the fork in the road... Kermit!
''[They literally turn at a giant fork in the road]''
'''Kermit:''' I don't believe it. }}
* ''National Lampoon's When Nature Calls'' has, in succession, "Bear Left" (with a bear on the sign's left), "Bear Right" (same thing but reversed), and "[[Fan Service|Bare Breasts]]" ([[Exactly What It Says on the Tin]]).
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== Literature ==
* Invoked in the short story "Absolute Limits", in which frustrated government scientists note that everyone on the highway always breaks the speed
== [[Live Action Television]] ==
* ''[[Red Dwarf]]'' has some fun with these. Rimmer quizzes Kryten on these while trying to get him certified for piloting a shuttle. Keep in mind this is taking place a few months shy of three million years away from Earth..
* The 'Tank Crossing' sign below was shown once in an episode of ''[[Home Improvement (TV series)|Home Improvement]]''. For some reason, it was on the tank's road and not the cart path it crossed.
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== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==
* The cover of a paperback collection of ''[[BC]]'' strips famously featured a [http://i43.tower.com/images/mm100308665/dip-in-road-johnny-hart-paperback-cover-art.jpg "Dip in Road" sign]{{Dead link}}. Sure enough...
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* The [[Web Original]] ''[[There She Is]]'' by SamBakZa has a No Cat and Bunny romance road sign. This is enforced by prejudicial cats and bunnies all over the city.
* [http://www.flickr.com/photos/arenamontanus/sets/72157594323393196/ This Flickr set.]
* [http://fc57.deviantart.com/fs27/f/2008/175/0/0/Pyramid_Head_X_ing_by_GlobalWolf.jpg Pyramid Head frequents this street.]{{Dead link}}
* Several in ''[[Cracked.com]]'''s [http://www.cracked.com/photoplasty_390_32-alternate-interpretations-common-warning-signs/ 32 Alternate Interpretations of Common Warning Signs].
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** Special note: this would fall under [[Genre Blind]], too. The scheme was to get Rhinokey arrested for speeding.
* ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants]]'' once featured a characteristically bizarre version in which the signs announced "killer clams", "cheese graters" and, horror of horrors, [[Edutainment Show|"EDUCATIONAL TELEVISION"]].
* In ''[[Wacky Races]]'', many of the times [[Dick Dastardly Stops to Cheat]], it involves him flipping a directional sign so the arrow points in the other direction. Or he yanks a real road sign out of the ground so the others will miss the turn, or changes a 35
* In the opening credits of ''[[I Am Weasel]]'', Weasel's driving a convertible with a hot blonde. But he passes a road sign that reads "LOGO". He leaps out of the car in the direction the sign indicates, and jumps into the logo for the show.
* This was a favorite gag of [[Tex Avery]]. If a character passed a "Fork ahead" sign, he would then bump into a giant fork sticking out of the ground. A "Hairpin turn" sign would indicate that the road would look ''exactly'' like a hairpin. And when characters stop at a school crossing, what should cross the road but a schoolhouse on two legs.
* [[Looney Tunes|Wile E. Coyote]] would frequently attempt to utilize these in his pursuit of the Road Runner. Unfortunately for him, Road Runners can't read.
* One of the ''[[Freaky Stories]]'' shorts involves an incredibly picky police officer, who expects everyone to follow traffic laws EXACTLY. Naturally, once he acquires a Speed Gun, he begins pulling people over for even going 1 Km/h faster/slower than the posted speed limit.
* ''[[Rocko's Modern Life]]'' did this with "Cheese Crossing" and "Slow Children Playing" signs.
== [[Truth in Television]] ==
* [[Real Life]] example: [
* There are also signs in [[Real Life]] that warn of speed bumps. They often simply read BUMP, or sometimes HUMP AHEAD.
** Travel tip- when the State of Vermont puts a sign up saying FROST HEAVE, the frost heave will be ''much'' larger than average.
** In Mexico, the signs read "TOPE" and may have a picture of the device. They tend to be very large and very steep, often enough to damage a car going much faster than 20 MPH. Residents of rural areas may build their own by felling trees.
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[[Category:Comedy Tropes]]
[[Category:Laws and Formulas]]
[[Category:
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