Yes, I realise that what I am about to write here is perhaps taking my status as a geek too far….
Within the last 10-12 months, I noticed a handful of road engineers physically removing a motorway distance to destination sign. It was on the northbound M90 just after the Admiralty “Sky TV” junction. At that time, Aberdeen was 112 miles away.
I was a little surprised to see the replacement sign being installed about 5 feet in front of the existing 112 miles sign. I was surprised for two reasons. Firstly, there was nothing wrong with the existing sign – it was in perfect condition as far as I could tell. Secondly, the replacement sign had Aberdeen marked as being 115 miles away. I can’t imagine that Aberdeen (or Fife for that matter) had moved 3 miles further apart.
However, after the works had been completed I noticed that the sign didn’t read Aberdeen 115 as I expected it to – it read Aberdeen 117. So Aberdeen and Dunfermline were now magically 5 miles further apart. I’m sure this fact pleases some people, however I was more intrigued at how such a mistake can be made…either the original 112 was incorrect or the new 117 is…or both as the image below might confirm.
In reality, the Aberdeen 115 sign was located less than a half mile further south (back “down” towards Admiralty). Thus the first sign we see is Aberdeen 115, then a few seconds later, we see Aberdeen 117…even though we have driven “up” the motorway in a northerly direction.
Who does one report such “issues” to? I’m going to contact Transport Scotland to find out!
I think I find it more amusing than geeky that you are driving along the M90 trying to take a photo out of the window whilst trying to stay on the road.
What is interesting is that they are all smaller distances, and all by different amounts. It would be interesting to know how they work these distances out, certainly there are other places I’ve come across where they are rather inconsistent.
@Chris Hardy – it’s not obvious from these shots, but there was a tripod involved! I have a little vice/clamp tripod – I used it for unpublished video content about commuting over the Forth Road Bridge during rush hour. Safety first 🙂
Bear Scotland is in charge of road management:
http://www.bearscot.com/index.php?page=home
Thanks John, that did the trick. Here’s part of the response:
“I should explain that the most northerly sign (Perth 33 miles etc) is correct and has recently been erected as part of a signing upgrade package. The more southerly sign (Perth 30 miles etc) is inaccurate and is scheduled to be removed as part of the same works project.”