This is a sign at one of the train stations in the Western Cape in South Africa. What always cracks me up about them is that criminals who smash windo

Light Speed Constraint - by Yair - BauZen

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2024-04-30 17:00:11

This is a sign at one of the train stations in the Western Cape in South Africa. What always cracks me up about them is that criminals who smash windows won't be on their merry way, about to smash a window, and on seeing the sign say to themselves: "Whoah! I did not see that sign there! Now that I've seen it, I'm definitely not going to smash the window on this train."

This also echoes a lot of what you may see in corporates around policies not to do something or how you have to do it in a specific way.

This sign is trying to enforce a policy on not using windows in trains to leave and enter the train and to rather use the doors.

The easiest way to enforce this is when replacement trains are needed, as the old trains are being decommissioned, get new trains that don't have windows that open at all or are far too small to fit through. That way someone can try all they want and not be able to even violate this policy. In fact, the new trains used on the train line do exactly that - when these signs get old and need replacement they can simply not replace them and remove the signs.

I like it as it's trying to enforce a policy but it's not even possible to go faster than the speed of light. So let people have at it all they want but there's nothing they can do to violate this policy. I like to call policies like this speed of light constraints.