It's worth noting with near 100% certainty that aggressively shaking a stop sign is illegal in probably all jurisdictions. Especially if it looks like it is shaking uncontrollably. Now I'm not getting mad at the kid, but there is a very good reason your adult brain doesn't automatically think about shaking that sign (and then commanding your body to go do it).
The kid, if faced with a police officer after the event, will of course get off free. They didn't really do any damage. But adults know that shaking that sign so hard could cause real, expensive damage, and that aggressively attacking public safety infrastructure is a bad idea.
It's a good thing that your brain knows about the sign. The kid is learning about the sign for the first time maybe, but you know about it. You know what it is and the value of a human life that it might save if it is not ripped down and requiring repairs.
> You would have to shake that sign pretty damn hard to do damage.
You don't know that. There are at least thousands, perhaps millions, of stop signs across America that are not securely placed into the ground. Sidewalks are cracking, some stop signs are old and getting older in the elements, etc.
If everyone in the US went out and shook a stop sign hard, we've be faced with millions of dollars in repairs and a very dangerous interim period without full stop sign coverage.
I'm obviously taking the extreme angle here. But America is laced with heavy regulation in the safety of its infrastructure to avoid simple failures like falling stop signs. Obviously there's no great effort to tear down all the top signs that would require a law against it - but I guarantee you that these signs are protected against vandalism and for good reason.
Sure it is, if you weaken the sign and make it lean, or even worse, fall. Adults brains are wired to not take those risks, even if they are unlikely, because they are dangerous and bad.
The kid has weaker arms, doesn't know the importance of the sign, and is vastly less likely to do damage. That's why we generally let them do it if they want to. But if 10 million adults all started doing it, you can bet there would be arrests.
It's not a bad thing that adults are less likely to go to town shaking stop signs uncontrollably. That would be risky and it's a-okay our brains know that.
There's a difference between shaking a sign and breaking a sign. The wind shakes them all the time. If someone was ever arrested for shaking a sign, I would seriously question (even more so) whether our society's good intentions paved our road to hell.
Yes, I know - you're missing the point I'm making. Adults brains are less likely to go shake the sign, as it might break and that would have major consequences. The kid doesn't know this, and it's also less likely for major issues to arise, so the situation is different and we generally don't get upset at kids for shaking the sign.
The OP said that the sign in their story was shaking "uncontrollably". That word means something here - it means the sign was really shaking. Adults don't normally do that because it carries a real, physical risk both in damaging the property but also harming another person. It's not just innocent play for an adult to go shaking stop signs on the street - it's downright dangerous.
My point is that it is a good thing that adults don't go around shaking signs. We shouldn't be concerned about not being kids anymore just because we have the maturity to know about risk and health. It's not a bad thing that we know it's not acceptable to go around shaking signs uncontrollably.
>the sign in their story was shaking "uncontrollably"
Well, as uncontrollably as a kid could shake it.
>We shouldn't be concerned about not being kids anymore just because we have the maturity to know about risk and health. It's not a bad thing that we know it's not acceptable to go around shaking signs uncontrollably.
I think someone worried about the dangers and health risks of shaking a sign might be a little anxious. I don't shake signs because it would be boring, but this conversation has reinvigorated my interest in shaking stop signs! Next time I go for a walk and walk by a stop sign, my brain will make me shake it, and I will smile.
It's worth noting with near 100% certainty that aggressively shaking a stop sign is illegal in probably all jurisdictions. Especially if it looks like it is shaking uncontrollably. Now I'm not getting mad at the kid, but there is a very good reason your adult brain doesn't automatically think about shaking that sign (and then commanding your body to go do it).
The kid, if faced with a police officer after the event, will of course get off free. They didn't really do any damage. But adults know that shaking that sign so hard could cause real, expensive damage, and that aggressively attacking public safety infrastructure is a bad idea.
It's a good thing that your brain knows about the sign. The kid is learning about the sign for the first time maybe, but you know about it. You know what it is and the value of a human life that it might save if it is not ripped down and requiring repairs.