Road signs

Years ago, I preferred New Hampshire’s road signs to Massachusetts’. The latter signs are very blunt:

OBEY THE SPEED LIMIT, OUI GETS YOU ARRESTED

On the other hand, just before the Seabrook exit, in the "Live Free or Die" state, you might read the apparently friendly

HANDS FREE, THE WAY TO BE

Now, however, I realize the passive aggressive tone of these sing-songy commands: they are still backed by the full violence of the State.  Disobey and you will get fined. Ignore the fine, and you will get arrested. Resist arrest, and you will be shot. Just as in Wayward Pines, ID, everyone is cute and friendly on the surface, but should you defy the commands, you will suffer.

Here’s an even more obnoxious one:

HELP US RESPECT OUR COMMUNITY, THROTTLE DOWN IN TOWN

(You can find it at the intersection of Epping Rd. and Park St., and on the way into the downtown area from Portsmouth Ave.) Who is the “us” and “our” in that directive? What is the community? Can Exeter bikers ignore it, as they are part of this alleged community and have a say of how to use "our" roads?

It would be interesting to study the connection between the proliferation of road signs and the increase of local totalitarianism. Every sign is a command that we should all obey. And, if the command is not yet an ordinance, some local mini-dictator will eventually propose it as such. "No," they say, "it is all just to keep us safe." Meanwhile, on July 1, 2015, as I was driving on 101 from Manchester to Exeter (~25 minutes), I noticed the following:

• about two dozen drivers who had no lights on in the rain with little visibility,
• a young (maybe teenager or early twenty-something) girl looking straight down into her lap (texting?) as she drifted halfway onto the shoulder,
• a man driving with no lights, no signal, and no blinker absentmindedly pulling off the shoulder into the right lane as he was busy lighting his cigarette,
• a good 15 drivers changing lanes with no blinkers, and
• an undercover cop speeding down the left lane at a solid 75 mph, and

Maybe more signs will transform these people into model motorists. Then again, every single driver was driving above the bureaucratically-imposed speed limit.

In reality, only respect for private property will mitigate local conflicts. (In fact, a simple application of private property was used recently to discuss noise issues.) In contrast, publicly-owned property suffers from the tragedy of the commons. If "we" all "own" the road, people will tend to use the resource in ways that others will deem unfit. Unhappy individuals will resort to their only recourse: government force.