Street View Proof: the Funniest Verified Road Names Across the Us and Uk
Behind every viral screenshot sits a tired municipal road supervisor. Funny road signs are prime targets for dorm room decorators, leading to chronic maintenance headaches for local governments. A single standard retroreflective aluminum sign costs between $60 and $120 to produce, but installation labor, boom truck dispatch, and administrative overhead push replacement costs to roughly $300 to $500 per theft.
Towns try various tactics to thwart thieves:
- Installing tamper-resistant shear nuts that snap off flush with the bolt threads.
- Raising post heights above 10 feet to place signs out of easy reach.
- Bolting signs directly onto high-voltage utility poles or brick walls.
- Replacing high-theft aluminum signs with stenciled curbs or painted markings.
Some jurisdictions finally surrender. In Shitterton, a hamlet in Dorset, England, residents grew exhausted by the theft of their village sign. In 2010, the community pooled private funds to carve the village name into a 1.5-ton slab of solid Purbeck stone. Google Street View imagery captures the massive boulder sitting at the road junction, an immovable barrier to souvenir hunters.
