Decades later, it’s taken half a trillion dollars to build out the interstate highway system completely. And highway expansion continues in America’s fastest-growing cities, like The Woodlands, Texas.

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The continuity of design for interstate highways contributes to a passerby’s understanding of where they are. When signs are improperly marked, this can lead to confusion and even danger on the road.

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The biggest concern with highway sign design is legibility, as driver’s passing at high speeds must be able to read them. Legible signs help keep traffic moving smoothly and without incident.

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While there are federal regulations on interstate highway sign designs, all state, territory, county, and secondary roads have much more variability in design standards and quality.

Reading signs involves pre-attentive processing, a concept highly familiar to sign industry experts. Drivers use pre-attentive processing to determine what they need to focus on while behind the wheel, namely directional signs and other traffic indicators.

In 1956, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower enacted the Federal Highway Act of 1956. It took over thirty-five years to complete the initial portion proposed by Eisenhower.

The first Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) was published in 1937 to regulate the design, implementation, and use of signage, road surface markings, and traffic signals to keep travelers safe. Since then, the MUTCD has experienced many revisions to reflect changes in technology, traffic control, and traffic operations.

As an alternative to this standard, the courts have generally adopted Rule 702 of the Federal Rules of Evidence, as the primary for expert testimony and scientific evidence.

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After researching and manufacturing the proper signage, Ankrom and his friends installed the correct sign some twenty years later. Then, knowing it was unlikely his sign would stay, Ankrom asked for the sign back as a memento. Instead, the California Transit Department kept the sign because it met regulations! You can learn more about Ankrom’s adventure here.

Novel techniques, placed under the scrutiny of this standard, forced courts to examine papers, books and judicial precedents on the subject at hand to make determinations as to the reliability and "general acceptance."

While Daubert has superseded Frye, the standard of Daubert is not substantially different. While the focus of the inquiry has changed, the result rarely does. Accordingly, the Daubert standard has been described as "Frye in drag."[7]

In United States law, the Frye standard, Frye test, or general acceptance test is a judicial test used in some U.S. state courts to determine the admissibility of scientific evidence. It provides that expert opinion based on a scientific technique is admissible only when the technique is generally accepted as reliable in the relevant scientific community. In Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, 509 U.S. 579 (1993), the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Federal Rules of Evidence superseded Frye as the standard for admissibility of expert evidence in federal courts.[1] Some states, however, still adhere to the Frye standard.

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In practical application of this standard, those who were proponents of a widely disputed scientific issue had to provide a number of experts to speak to the validity of the science behind the issue in question.

The court must determine that the scientific evidence is "generally accepted" by a significant portion of the relevant scientific community in order for it to satisfy the Frye standard. This pertains to any methods, ideas, or strategies that could be used during a court case.

In many but not all jurisdictions, the Frye standard has been superseded by the Daubert standard. States still following Frye include: California, Illinois, Minnesota, New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington.[4] New Jersey follows a model that closely resembles Daubert for civil, criminal and quasi-criminal.[5][6]

The iconic signs that line America’s highways, interstates, and local roads are some of the most recognizable travel icons in the nation. In fact, one stretch of highway in Michigan, called M-22, that runs along the Lake Michigan shoreline of the Leelanau Peninsula, is so famous that multiple retail locations have been erected along its route to sell M-22 merchandise. This is only one example of how iconic America’s highway signs have become. But there’s a bit more to these signs than meets the eye. We’re going to cover some history of the interstate highway system, and the important role highway signs plays in keeping our roads safe.

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This standard comes from Frye v. United States, 293 F. 1013 (D.C. Cir. 1923), a case discussing the admissibility of systolic blood pressure deception test as evidence.[2] The Court in Frye held that expert testimony must be based on scientific methods that are sufficiently established and accepted.[3] The court wrote:

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As Ankrom’s story indicates, proper signage is key to successful highway navigation and traffic safety. Signage and marking guidance found in the MUTCD and other regulatory documents are critical to maintaining order and safety on America’s highways.

Since its inception, signage has been key to the success of America’s highway system. In the early 1920s, Highway officials and experts from Indiana, Wisconsin, and Minnesota toured through sections of the U.S. to create a plan for standardizing highway signage throughout the country. Officials standardized these early sign shapes via the level of risk associated with the highway situation they marked. Color standards were added several years later. Some of these standards are still in use today!

Just when a scientific principle or discovery crosses the line between the experimental and demonstrable stages is difficult to define. Somewhere in this twilight zone the evidential force of the principle must be recognized, and while the courts will go a long way in admitting expert testimony deduced from a well-recognized scientific principle or discovery, the thing from which the deduction is made must be sufficiently established to have gained general acceptance in the particular field in which it belongs. (Emphasis added.)

In 1957, Richard Oliver, an employee of the Texas Highway Department, designed the first Interstate Highway Shield. This design has been revised three times since then, in 1961, 1971, and 1978.

Confused is exactly what Richard Ankrom was in 1981 when trying to navigate between Interstate 5 and the 110 freeway. Ankrom missed his ramp and accordingly got lost outside of Los Angeles because of an improperly marked sign. So, Ankrom and a group of friends decided to do something about it.