“Children at Play” and "SLOW" signs are not recognized by the State of California or the Federal government as official traffic control devices, and are therefore not installed on public streets in the City of Atascadero.
Traffic studies have shown that these signs do not increase driver awareness to the point of reducing vehicle speeds or pedestrian accidents. In fact, placement of the signs may actually increase the potential for accidents by providing a false sense of protection that does not exist and cannot be guaranteed.
Additionally, installation of “SLOW” or reduced speed limit signs in residential streets has been found to be ineffective at reducing speeds because if a driver passes the sign and encounters no reason to slow down (or does not know how much to slow down), that driver may become confused and foster disrespect for all signs.