Dear Federal Highway Administrator Victor Mendez and Secretary Ray LaHood,

I understand that the revisions done to the 2009 Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices went into effect on June 13. I read through it, and there needs to be more changes done to the manual, especially concerning signs.

Here are the changes that needs to be considered – I will post the section numbers (all of the changes that will be posted in this petition are from Chapter 2 and 8 of the MUTCD).

The standard statement in Section 2A.13, paragraph 11 should read: “The sign lettering for names of places, streets and highways on guide signs shall be composed of a combination of lower-case letters with initial upper-case letters.”

There should also be another standard immediately after paragraph 11 and it should read: “The sign lettering for names of places, streets and highways that appear on regulatory and warning signs, shall be composed solely of upper-case letters.”

The standard statement in Section 2A.14, paragraph 2 should read: “The corners of all sign borders shall be rounded, except for STOP signs and Street Name signs.”

There should be an option statement immediately after Section 2A.14, paragraph 2 and it should read: “The corners of Street Name sign borders may be rounded or straight.”

There should be a new standard statement after the option statement and it should read: “The corners of all extruded Street Name sign borders shall not be rounded.”

There should be a standard statement in Section 2A.17 and it should read: “Except as provided in Chapter 2B, the use of overhead regulatory signs shall be prohibited.”

The standard statement in Section 2C.58, paragraph 1 should read: “The lettering on Advance Street Name plaques shall be composed solely of upper-case letters.”

The standard statement in Section 2D.05, paragraph 2 should read: “The lettering for the names of places, streets, highways and political boundaries (such as Town Limits, City Limits and State Line) shall be composed of a combination of lower case letters with initial upper case letters (see Section 2A.13). The nominal loop height of the lower-case letters shall be 3/4 the height of the initial upper-case letter. When a mixed-case legend letter height is specified referring only to the initial upper-case letter, the height of the lower-case letters that follow shall be determined by this proportion. When the height of a lower-case letter is referenced, the reference is made to the nominal loop height and the height of the initial upper-case letter shall also be determined by this proportion.”

The guidance statement in Section 2D.43, paragraphs 4 should be changed to a standard statement and read: “For all highways that have a speed limit of 30 mph or greater, the lettering on post-mounted Street Name signs shall be composed of initial upper-case letters at least 6 inches in height and lower-case letters at least 4.5 inches in height.”

The option statement in Section 2D.43, paragraph 9 should read: “Supplementary lettering to indicate the type of street (such as Street, Avenue, or Road) or the section of the city (such as NW) on the D3-1 and D3-1a signs may be in smaller lettering, composed of initial upper-case letters at least 3 inches in height and lower-case letters at least 2.25 inches in height. Conventional abbreviations (see Section 1A.15) may be composed solely of uppercase letters, and abbreviations may be used except for the street name itself.”

There should be a standard statement immediately after the option statement in Section 2D.43, paragraph 9 and should read: “If the route of highway is part of the Street Name itself, it shall be spelled out, and the words North, South, East and West shall not be abbreviated in such an occurrence to indicate cardinal directions on Street Name signs.”

There should be another option statement after Section 2D.43, paragraph 15 and should read: “The corners of a Street Name sign may be rounded or straight.”

There should be a standard statement after the new option statement and should read: “The corners of an extruded Street Name sign shall not be rounded.”

The option statement on Section 2D.43, paragraph 24 should read: “On roadways with speed limits of 35 mph or less, historic street name signs within locally identified historic districts that are consistent with the criteria contained in 36 CFR 60.4 for such structures and districts may be used without complying with the provisions of Paragraphs 3, 4, 6, 9, 12 through 14, and 18 through 20 of this section.”

There should be a standard statement in Section 2D.44 and it should read: “The corners on all Advance Street Name signs shall be rounded.”

There should be a standard statement in Section 2H.02 and it should read: “The lettering for political boundary signs shall be composed of a combination of lower-case letters with initial upper-case letters (see Section 2A.13).”

There should be a new standard statement after the standard statement in Section 8B.04, paragraph 15 and it should read: “A vertical strip of retroreflective red material shall not be used on Crossbuck supports unless a STOP sign is used.”

I am also demanding that the recently deleted deadline for 6 inch letter heights on Street Name signs be permanently re-instated in any future revision.

Why am I recommending these changes to the MUTCD? The way it is currently written, even after the revisions on June 13, is extremely inconsistent with certain types of signs, thereby putting the signs at risk of being disrespected by the traveling public at large. This is especially true of Reversible Lane regulatory signs, Advance Street Name warning supplemental plaques, and Destination guide signs with political subdivisions on them – and the way the manual is written in regards to those three types of signs has led to confusion about the proper format of those signs, because they are all part of some group of signs in which all signs in the group must be all uppercase (regulatory and warning) or mixed case (guide). One more reason why I am recommedning a change to the manual: the deadline for 6 inch letter heights on Street Name signs passed on January 9 is critical both to citizens AND to public safety workers who may not know where people live. In fact, that deadline, since eliminated, may be more important than the looming crashworthy deadline, which was retained.

I urge you to make these changes so that the traveling public in communities all across America will have the utmost respect for the traffic signs that you hold dear to your hearts. Thanks for your time.