 What are Popsicle Signs?
Popsicle signs traditionally are commercial and political signs placed along the streets of your community using a wooden stake. The simplest of these signs (and still among the most common) look like popsicles, hence the name. Today many of these signs use a metal stake or are attached to street signs, light posts, fences, etc. The important thing to remember is that, in the state of Virginia,
these signs are illegal. Or, as I like to say, Popsicle Signs Suck.
Why Should You Care?
First and foremost these signs are a blight. Popsicle signs are meant to be cheap to purchase and easy to place in the ground. Their low cost makes them an affordable option for a wide range of organizations including get rich quick schemes, work from home schemes, weight loss clinics, sub-prime mortgage lenders, politicians, and (some might say worst of all in the Prince William County area) home builders. The low cost of these signs mean that just about every major roadway in the region is blanketed with these signs creating the following very real problems:
- Visual polution
These signs are unsightly and make even prosperous neighborhoods look seedy.
- Litter
The folks that put the signs in the ground are rarely the ones that pick them up. In Prince William County Virginia road crews collect tens of thousands of these signs each year and transport them to the landfill for disposal. Tax payers pick up this bill of course. And then there are the signs that blow away to despoil our green spaces and waterways.
- Safety Hazard
Popsicle signs can create safety hazards in a number of ways including distracting drivers and injuring road crews during maintenance operations. Have you ever ever run over something while cutting the grass and had it fly out at you? Think about the hazard posed by those wooden and metal stakes lying hidden in long grass.
So What is the Deal with Popsicle Signs Suck?
For the past several years I have been watching with ever growing distaste as these signs take over our roadways. I have finally decided now was time to act and see if one person could do something to make a difference. Well, hopefullly not just one person, hence this site. My goal is two fold:
- Enlist other citizens in the battle against illegal signs;
- Shame offenders into putting the signs down and taking up legal means of advertising.
Please take the time to read up on the issue and then help put an end to popsicle signs.
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